


Happy Birthday, Yuu

by CherryEmbly



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Birthday, Cute, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Gay, Jealous Noya, M/M, One-Shots, Smut, Yaoi, light - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-20 15:08:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8253505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CherryEmbly/pseuds/CherryEmbly
Summary: It's Japan's greatest libero's birthday today! How will he celebrate?





	1. Happy Birthday, Yuu!

**Author's Note:**

> Nishinoya is my favorite character (well favorite main character) in Haikyuu and today (10/10) is his birthday! I'm celebrating with a series of one-shots put together, mostly in response to Tumblr requests, and one twitter request you sweet rebel you. 
> 
> **Anon: Jealous Nishinoya? The trace amounts of it in Asahi's distortions were too cute! X.X**  
>  **Anon: Can you do an Asanoya with Bottom Noya? I know you don't think he'd be a bottom, but pleaaaase?**   
> **SarahFly(and a series of numbers I won't write): How does Noya do when Asahi leaves? I feel like he'd pretend to be okay, but would be self-destructing.**
> 
> Your collective wishes are my command beauties. All five one-shots should go up today, but at the latest, all up by tomorrow. :)

“Nishinoya!” Ukai shouted. 

“Shit! I’m sorry!” Nishinoya yelped, barely making it to the ball. “My bad, Kageyama.” 

“It’s okay!” Kageyama replied. 

“Kageyama!” Hinata shouted.

“Sho--Hinata,” Kageyama huffed.

It was the same thing that had happened nearly a dozen times since the beginning of the fall of Nishinoya’s final season of high school volleyball. He did okay in the beginning, but suddenly it was like he was disjointed, unhinged. He normally had such a sense for the game and no matter where a ball went he could dig it up, but it hadn’t been the case lately. He felt grateful for Kageyama, the genius setter and Hinata and Tanaka, who could always make a ball count, but if Nishinoya was to admit it honestly, it wasn’t just an off day… 

_I’m getting worse…_

Hinata jumped up and smacked the quick down hard, blowing it past Kinoshita, Narita, Ennoshita and the three first years they had on their team and snagged the point, but it was only because Kageyama could set the ball from damn near anywhere, and because Hinata could hit anything Kageyama set to him. In any other situation, Nishinoya’s slow reaction time, misguided returns and unsuccessful digs would be costing his team points and that fact killed him more than anything. 

“What’s wrong with him? He’s supposed to have the most stamina, but it’s like he’s dying off,” one of the new first years, Chris, an exchange student from America, chided. 

“Shh, don’t be so disrespectful. He’s our upperclassman and he played on the Nationals team last year,” another, So, said. 

_I can hear you._ Nishinoya glared at them and they averted their gaze. 

The whistle blew and Ukai sighed in defeat. “Okay, that was… interesting. Let’s call it a day. Clean up, drink some water, and don’t forget to stretch.” 

“Thank you!” the team resounded before everyone branched off to different tasks to clean the gym and prepare to shut down. 

Nishinoya looked over and Ukai was speaking in hushed tones to Ennoshita and Takeda with Yachi, not so discreetly, throwing nervous looks at him every few seconds as she listened from nearby. Nishinoya wasn’t stupid. He knew what everyone thought and what everyone was saying, but he didn’t have an answer for them. He just was worse; he didn’t know why. With prelims for the Spring tournament just around the corner, Nishinoya picked, literally, the worst time to start flubbing.

“Uh, Ni--” Ukai began, but he was cut off by a frantic Ennoshita. 

“Coach, give me a shot,” he said. 

Ukai and Takeda looked at Ennoshita, then Nishinoya, then back to Ennoshita. Ukai sighed and nodded and Nishinoya noticed the quick, light touch to Ukai’s back Takeda gave before smiling at Ennoshita and nodding as well. Ennoshita offered a shallow bow and then ran over to Nishinoya. 

“Ennoshita, I’m sorry,” Nishinoya said. “I don’t know what the deal is, I’m just… I don’t know.” 

“Noya, I think, maybe…” Ennoshita sighed, almost nervous. “I mean, is it possible it’s like this because you, um… Miss Asahi?” 

Nishinoya’s heart dropped. He did miss Asahi, but he didn’t think that was what was affecting his game play. 

Sure I wish he was still around, but could something like that just flat out make me worse? 

Nishinoya shook his head. 

_No it couldn’t._ “That’s not what’s wrong, Ennoshita.” 

Ennoshita shifted. “I just think that--” 

“That’s not it!” Nishinoya barked and then recoiled. “Sorry, I just… I don’t think that’s it. I’ll figure it out and be better tomorrow, I promise.” 

Tanaka walked by with the volleyball bucket. “Look, Noya, there’s nothing wrong with missing--” 

“That’s not what’s wrong!” Nishinoya bellowed. “That’s stupid. I’m not playing like shit just because I miss someone!” 

“B-but, you do miss him?” Ennoshita murmured, tossing Tanaka a nervous look. 

“Well, I mean…” Nishinoya could feel his cheeks warming and he was starting to get incredibly agitated. “What the hell is with the third degree?” 

Ennoshita crossed his arms. “All I’m saying is that… Well, like, if Tanaka was a year older and left, I think I would probably--” 

“Ah! Shut up! I’m not that weak!” Nishinoya shouted, drawing the attention of all his teammates, both coaches and Yachi. His face felt hot and he knew he was blushing. He groaned and drooped his head. “Sorry, Ennoshita. Can I just go? I’ll clean up more tomorrow.” 

“Stretch when you get home,” Ennoshita huffed. 

“Yeah.” Nishinoya walked around Ennoshita and Tanaka, stopping to briefly toss an apologetic look at Ukai and Takeda, then he walked out of the gym. 

He moved along in distracted anger, until he was walking home and his cell phone rang in his bag. He pulled it out, fully expecting it to be Tanaka or Ennoshita calling to apologize, which he deserved, but was relieved to see who it really was. 

He answered it, calming down even before the other spoke. “You have the best timing,” he said. 

“Hey. I assumed you’d still be in practice, I was just gonna leave you a message. What’s wrong? Why aren’t you in practice?” Asahi asked. 

“I left a little early. Something’s wrong,” Nishinoya grumbled. 

“What do you mean?” Asahi asked, concern thick in his voice. 

“I don’t know,” Nishinoya said in defeat. “I’m just playing like shit right now. I don’t know what’s wrong.” 

“Well it’s halfway through and Spring prelims are coming up; it’s not going to be all that easy,” Asahi said. “I hear your new freshmen are excitable.”

“Yeah, but this isn’t the first time I’ve had to do that stuff. This is my third year playing for Karasuno,” Nishinoya retorted. 

“Well, how long did it take you to adjust to the fast pace then?” Asahi asked. 

“I didn’t have to adjust, I was fine,” Nishinoya said, legitimately trying to figure it out. “I guess when I first joined I didn’t really have to adjust because you and I were fine right off the bat and then last year, it was more about helping you guys get to nationals for your final year, well and I wanted you to be able to get Date Tech back and--.” The realization hit Nishinoya like a ton of bricks. “Damn it.” 

“What?” Asahi said. 

_They were right._

“Um…” It was stupid for Nishinoya to feel sheepish about telling Asahi the truth when they’d been together for a year, but it was such a heavy thing to say that it made him a bit nervous to say it. “I guess, maybe, I overreacted when Tanaka and Ennoshita told me what was wrong.”

“What’d they say?” Asahi asked. 

“They, uh, told me that it was because I missed you,” Nishinoya damn near whispered. Asahi chuckled, and then let out a few full laughs. “What?” Nishinoya barked. 

“Nothing,” Asahi replied. “You don’t think that’s what it is?” The laughing annoyed Nishinoya. 

“I didn’t at first, but talking through it now I realize, I haven’t had to play on the team without you. I miss you, obviously, but I didn’t think it was so bad,” Nishinoya grumbled. “I guess I was still running on leftover adrenaline from Nationals until now.” 

“Well, I’m sorry you’re having such a rough time, but I guess I’m relieved you miss me,” Asahi sang back. “If it makes you feel better, I miss you too.” 

Nishinoya let out a guttural noise of irritation. “How long until it goes away?” he asked. 

“That you stop missing me?” Asahi asked, voice hitched with insult. 

“No, just… How long until it stops making me play so awful?” Nishinoya said. 

“Uh…” Asahi let out an awkward laugh. “I’m not sure. Maybe accepting it will help.” 

“I totally shouted at Ennoshita and Tanaka,” Nishinoya said. 

“So apologize to them and accept that that’s what wrong and maybe it’ll start to get better,” Asahi said. “I’ll be home on break soon too, so just be patient.” 

“Yeah,” Nishinoya replied. “I love you.” 

“I love you too. Don’t worry, it’ll get better,” Asahi said. 

“I hope so,” Nishinoya responded. “Can you come home now?” 

Asahi laughed, but didn’t respond and Nishinoya’s stomach burned with sadness. _I wish you’d never left._

*** 

Nishinoya turned the corner towards the school and saw Tanaka and Ennoshita walking hand in hand up the walkway. Upon closer observation, Ennoshita looked really tired. 

_It’s one thing for the first years, or Hinata and Kageyama to cause the captain stress, but I shouldn’t be._

As his best friend, Nishinoya knew how much Tanaka valued his alone time with Ennoshita in the mornings, so he could only hope the haughty ace would forgive him for interrupting just once. 

“Ennoshita! Tanaka!” Nishinoya shouted up the road. 

Both men stopped and turned toward him, each smiling when they saw him. Tanaka put his free hand in the air. “Oh! Yuu!” 

Nishinoya jogged up the road, past Ukai’s shop, until he was alongside his fellow third years. “Good morning, Nishinoya,” Ennoshita greeted. 

He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. “Hey guys. Listen, sorry about yesterday. I guess you were right.” 

“Honestly,” Tanaka huffed. “I’m surprised you made it this long. I think if it were me and Ennoshita was gone, I’d’ve lost it back in April some time.” 

Nishinoya chuckled and Ennoshita shook his head. “No, seriously. I wasn’t saying that stuff yesterday as false empathy. I have no idea how you’ve managed to be so strong.”

“Thanks guys. I guess I was running on fumes and they finally tapered out. I talked to him yesterday and I feel a little better. Plus, he’s coming home in a few weeks,” Nishinoya said. “Hopefully things will start to turn around now.”

Ennoshita side-eyed Tanaka and Tanaka pecked Ennoshita on the cheek, dropping his hand shortly after. 

“Don’t be long please,” Ennoshita ordered lightly. 

“Right behind ya, Cap,” Tanaka replied endearingly and then Ennoshita started up the road towards the school, leaving Tanaka and Nishinoya behind. 

“It’s your birthday on Saturday right?” Tanaka asked, starting up the hill himself, imploring Nishinoya to follow. 

“Yeah,” Nishinoya said. “Normally, I’d want to do something, but I just feel…” 

“Yeah, well, too bad, you’re doing something,” Tanaka huffed. 

“Huh?” Nishinoya looked over at him. “What are you talking about?” 

“I know you’ve been stressed lately, so I organized a game on Saturday, just a fun thing with the team - no first years,” Tanaka said. “I mean they’re nice guys, but maybe a taste of the old days will make you feel better.” 

Nishinoya felt loved. It alone improved his mood. “Thanks, Ryu.” 

“Yeah,” Tanaka said. 

It won’t be exactly the same, but for some odd reason, the idea of pretending, if even for a couple hours, that things were like they used to be, sounded nice.

*** 

Nishinoya lifted his phone. _It’s noon, where the hell is everyone?_ Nishinoya looked around the abandoned school grounds and pulled again on the gym door, but when it didn’t give, he actually got a little pissed off. 

_I’m in no mood to be made a fool of, Tanaka._

His phone rang and he answered it angrily. “Where the hell are you?” Nishinoya barked. 

“Are you at the gym?” Tanaka asked. 

“Yes, I’ve been here for like ten minutes,” Nishinoya hissed. 

The line went dead and Nishinoya stared, wide-eyed, at his phone screen. _Did he just hang up on me?_ Nishinoya jumped a little when the gym doors unlocked loudly, and then both doors started to open. Nishinoya stepped back and his heart leapt when the scene on the other side of the door, panned out in front of him.

Notable features were the huge banner, with multicolored letters, reading ‘Happy Birthday Yuu;’ the grand presentation way Ennoshita and Tanaka stood at each door, and the presence of, not only both his coach and club advisor, but both his current and previous team managers, Yachi and Shimizu. Shimizu held a beautifully decorated cake and Yachi a gift with gorgeous, almost professional looking, wrapping paper. 

And Tanaka didn’t lie; it was in fact the old team. 

The annoying first (now second) years: Kageyama, Hinata, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. His fellow classmen: Ennoshita, Tanaka, Kinoshita and Narita; and most excitingly, the graduated third years: previous captain, Daichi; previous team father (mother) Sugawara and… 

“Asahi,” Nishinoya huffed, smile rising to his face. 

They’d only been apart for a few months, but his hair was longer and he actually seemed both taller, and more muscular. He smiled blindingly at Nishinoya, shallow dimples peeking out of his cheeks, and eyes warm, inviting and _sunken. He looks as exhausted as I feel._

“Hey,” Asahi replied. 

“Do you think if we burst into flame right now, that they’d notice?” Daichi asked Sugawara. 

Sugawara chuckled sweetly. “I don’t think that if they burst into flame right now, that they’d notice.” 

Nishinoya felt relieved. He _needed_ to see Asahi. He ripped his eyes away from him long enough to let a grateful gaze fall on Tanaka. “Ryu, I…” Nishinoya sighed. “Thanks.” 

Tanaka nodded. “Happy birthday.” He turned towards the group. “Oi, let’s get ready for the game! Kiyoko-San, this cake looks delicious.” Tanaka walked them all off towards the courts, leaving Nishinoya, and of course, Asahi behind. 

“Hey,” Asahi said again. 

“You said that already,” Nishinoya said. He actually felt a bit stupid to feel so excited to see him. _I’m useless._

Asahi walked over to him, cocking his head in confusion and rattling Nishinoya’s heart with how cute it looked. “Did you get taller?” 

Nishinoya didn’t pass up the opportunity to slice his hand hard into Asahi’s torso. “Yeah and so did you so I’m no closer than I was yesterday!” 

Asahi doubled over and winced, also chuckling. “I can’t control my height.” 

Nishinoya looked up at the, entirely distracted, Karasuno team of his past and knew he could act without being noticed, if only for a brief moment. With Asahi hunched over, Nishinoya leaned down and quickly touched their lips, almost feeling sick at how good it felt. Asahi moaned gently, not pulling away as Nishinoya expected, and as he stood up as straight as he could without disconnecting from Nishinoya, he wrapped his arms around his back and pulled him close. Nishinoya breathed into the feeling, pulling at the sides of Asahi’s t-shirt. He’d intended to act quickly to avoid causing his timid boyfriend any embarrassment, but if Asahi was in no rush to part ways, he wasn’t either, even though he was certain they had to have been spotted by then. 

Nishinoya started to feel out of control. 

_Any more of this and I’m gonna end up dragging him out of here, cake and presents be damned._

As hard as it was, Nishinoya pulled away, his torrid emotions worsening at the flushed look on Asahi’s face and closed his eyes to regulate himself. “We have to stop. Ryu, put this whole thing together and--” 

“Yeah,” Asahi murmured. He reached into the pocket of his gym shorts and pulled out a folded paper. “Can I at least give you your present quickly?” 

Nishinoya’s hazel eyes shot open and up to the brown above him. “You being here and doing all that just now wasn’t the present?” 

Asahi chuckled and handed over the paper to Nishinoya, who unfolded it a few times until he was looking at the entire paper. There was lots of technical jargon that Nishinoya didn’t care to understand, but he could plainly see and understand the huge, bold, title. 

****

‘TOHOKU UNIVERSITY TRANSFER REQUEST’

“It’s a transfer request… to Tohoku,” Nishinoya mumbled in shock. Tohoku was just about twenty minutes away in Sendai, a far cry closer than Asahi’s current university, which was four hours away in Tokyo. “Asahi, you don’t--” 

“As it turns out, I’m not doing so well without you either,” Asahi grumbled. 

“He failed a test!” Sugawara shouted. 

Asahi whipped his head around, cheeks brimming. “Suga!” 

_Failed?_ “Wha- really!?” Nishinoya asked in shock. Asahi was incredibly smart, apart from being a bit of a goody two-shoes. Both academically and personally, it was hard to believe. 

Asahi turned back to Nishinoya. “Yeah…” 

“He flirted with the professor to get a retake!” Daichi shouted. 

Asahi whipped his head the other way. “I DID NOT!” 

“Flirted?” Nishinoya asked, bunching his brow. 

Asahi turned back to Nishinoya, frantically shaking his head. “I didn’t! They think that she liked me, but I swear--” 

“What!? How old was this woman?” Takeda yelped in disgust, no doubt fueled by his own occupation as an educator. 

_Why, all of a sudden, is everyone else in our conversation?_ Nishinoya grabbed Asahi’s hand and pulled him outside the gym, holding his pointer finger in the air to signify they’d be back in a minute. 

Asahi fumbled nervously. “Noya, I swear--” 

“Shh, it’s okay. A, I get it, you’re sexy. B, if you got the retake, then who cares?” Nishinoya stated plainly. “I just wanted to be more alone than that. Just for a minute.”

“I won’t go back when Suga and Daichi do. I’ll move into the new campus after break,” Asahi said. 

Nishinoya just shook his head. He was elated. “I c… I… Good.” 

Asahi smiled. “There’s another thing.” 

“There can’t be, I’m dying,” Nishinoya replied, yanking an chuckle from Asahi. 

“The coach of the top volleyball team in the Miyagi prefecture heard I was moving back to town and offered me a part time job helping with his club,” Asahi said. 

Nishinoya continued to shake his head in awe. “And? Did you accept?” 

Asahi took a step forward with an uncharacteristically seductive face. “I told him I’d only take it if their libero was amazing. This may come as a surprise to you, but I have a thing for them.” 

“What classes are you taking?” Nishinoya asked, flabbergasted by Asahi’s sudden brazen nature. 

“I think, when you get to a certain point of frustration, you stop functioning normally,” Asahi replied, blushing lightly. 

Nishinoya rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah. I have my own experience with that.” Nishinoya tugged lightly at the base of Asahi’s shirt, maintaining a safe distance so as not to bail out on his hard fought for birthday celebration. “I love you.” 

Asahi clearly didn’t get the memo about safe distances as he pulled Nishinoya the rest of the distance into him, holding him tightly. “I love you too. Happy birthday, Yuu.” 

Nishinoya inhaled Asahi’s familiar body soap, vanilla shampoo and general ‘him’ smell and smiled. “Thank you.” He felt much better.


	2. Where's the Time Gone?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite being much closer than before, Asahi hasn't agreed to see Nishinoya once. That fact, melded with his boyfriend's near constant mentioning of his new roommate, have the wild libero storming over to the campus before he can control himself.

Nishinoya shoved his phone into his bag angrily, along with a spare set of clothes, his mp3 player, his wallet, and his homework (not that he’d actually be doing it, but appearances were important to his boyfriend). At the last second, he pulled his bottle of lube from under his bed and tossed it in as well. 

_Not holding my breath though._

He pulled on his combat boots, pea-coat and gloves, bid his parents a quick farewell and headed out into the night. He was fuming, but the long walk and train ride through the brisk evening would hopefully be enough to calm him down before it was time to confront his gentle giant. 

_I don’t want to terrify him after all._

The golden glow of the lights from homes along the avenue were the only illumination to speak of as he marched onto the road. Snow decorated the ground and Nishinoya’s lurid breaths puffed up in front of him in a huff of smoke from the cold as he made his way towards the train station. 

_I need to calm down. I need to calm down._

Nishinoya had been beyond thrilled to learn that Asahi would be transferring to a school closer to home and had been additionally excited to know that he was the reason he was moving. Neither of them could handle the long distance, so Asahi was closing it. Nishinoya thought he knew what that meant; seeing one another more often, visits to games, spending weekends together, but in the month since Asahi had started attending his new university, Nishinoya hadn’t seen him once. Well, that and the fact that all of their conversations prior had been filled to the brim with glowing compliments about Asahi’s new roommate, Kaoru. 

_I’m glad he’s home, but at least when he was roomed with Sugawara, I knew there was nothing crazy going on._

It wasn’t that Nishinoya thought Asahi would do anything like cheat on him, because he 100% didn’t, but… 

_‘Yeah and then Kaoru, it was hilarious, walked straight up to her and said…’_

_‘It’s okay, I ended up figuring it out, er rather, Kaoru helped me.’_

_‘Oh, I can’t. Kaoru and I are going to see a band tonight.’_

_Kaoru this, Kaoru that. Why do I have to hear about fucking Kaoru?_

Asahi wouldn’t cheat on Nishinoya, but that wouldn’t stop stupid Kaoru guy from trying. 

Further, after all Asahi had gone through so they could be closer, why wouldn’t he hang out with him? There was always some excuse. Not just hanging out with Kaoru, but there was homework, or exhausted, or not feeling well, or class ran late. Their most recent conversation was what sent Nishinoya over the edge when, as Nishinoya was suggesting he go and visit, Asahi cut him off to decline the offer.

_If you don’t want to see me anymore just say something. I can handle it._

Though as Nishinoya boarded the train bound for Sendai, a frustrating turn in his stomach settled in and he wondered if it were true. More than anything, Nishinoya didn’t want to lose Asahi. Being with another guy wasn’t entirely a ‘normal’ thing and Nishinoya was a year younger after all. If Asahi was having second thoughts about being in a relationship, Nishinoya was fine with that, he just didn’t want to mess up his friendship, so talking it out and being honest was better. 

That was what Nishinoya planned to say. He’d brought a change of clothes and lube as an afterthought. He highly doubted his random pop up would earn him sex of any kind, especially not with the great deity, Kaoru, around, but if it did go in that direction, he at least wanted to be prepared. The last thing he needed was for things to finally go well and then not be equipped to handle it. 

The calming music Nishinoya had selected specifically to relax himself played through his ears as the train shoved along. He looked around at the other passengers. It was a Friday night so a lot of couples were on the train bound for Sendai for date night. Nishinoya watched them jealously. He could handle just being friends, but it wouldn’t be easy. He wanted to go on dates with Asahi and kiss him and be near him always. 

If everything changed that night, what would he do? 

He looked at his phone as he walked off the train, reviewing the directions of how to get to the university as well as the text with Asahi’s room information Nishinoya had sneakily gotten from Sugawara after lying to say he wanted to send Asahi a care package. 

After a brief walk from the subway station, Nishinoya was walking onto campus and was shocked. _What the fuck? This place is huge._

Using the signposts and directions from two people who could clearly tell he was lost, Nishinoya finally made his way to the new apartments near campus where Asahi was living. He walked in, excusing himself through several university students and he was certain he was giving off the ‘still a high schooler’ vibe, even without the help from his small stature. Ordinarily the wild libero might stop to exert his masculinity and prove that his size isn’t indicative of his personality or power, but he couldn’t be bothered. He had far more important matters to attend to. A short elevator ride and soon, Nishinoya was standing in front of Asahi’s door, or so he hoped. 

_Hopefully Suga didn’t pick this time to play his first prank on me ever._

Nishinoya took a deep breath as he pulled his gloves off and shoved them into his pockets and then he knocked on the door. 

“Coming,” a gruff voice called that made Nishinoya’s heart leap. _Good._

The door opened and Asahi, unkempt but handsome in sweats and a t-shirt looked down at Nishinoya. Though his eyes did widen with shock, a large smile found his face as well and in the blink of an eye, Asahi reached forward, wrapped his arms around Nishinoya and pulled him close, leaning down to bring their lips together in an excited kiss. Nishinoya, though euphoric for the action, was also incredibly confused. At best, he thought his conversations would lead to a calming confirmation from Asahi that he did in fact love him and not want to break-up, a fact they would consummate and then spend the night together. He did not anticipate the bold, and very public, display of affection. 

All of Nishinoya’s plans and speeches flew from his brain, like birds broken free, and he wrapped his arms around Asahi’s back and pulled, trying his best to do away with the mere millimeters of space still separating them. 

Asahi took a step back, parting them to Nishinoya’s disdain, and locked eyes with him. “Kaoru is gone for the weekend,” he huffed. 

Nishinoya need not respond verbally. He pushed Asahi inside and shut the door before him, and Asahi responded by pushing back, pinning Nishinoya against the door and locking him in another kiss, wild and breathtaking. Nishinoya would ask what had gotten into him later and instead took the moment to hook his arms around the other’s massive biceps on either side of him. _Definitely bigger._ Nishinoya complied without protest when he felt Asahi push his tongue past his lips and into his mouth and responded by sucking it lewdly, earning him a low growl. He slid one of his hands from around Asahi’s arm, over to his hair, where he pulled out the hastily placed hair tie, allowing Asahi’s long, brown hair to fall freely. He laced his fingers into the mess and tugged Asahi out of the kiss, and turned his attention to his chin, nibbling lightly, and kissing his way along his jaw. 

Nishinoya strained, standing up on his tiptoes, to get the access he desired to Asahi’s neck, but it was a struggle to say the least. Unintentionally, Nishinoya grumbled in frustration and Asahi laughed. 

Nishinoya clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Don’t laugh at me.” 

“Sorry,” Aashi responded sweetly. 

He took a step back and pulled Nishinoya’s bag over his shoulder and dropped it to the floor and then pulled his jacket off. Nishinoya kicked off his boots and Asahi pulled him out of the entry way, into the living room, where he sat in the nearest arm chair and pulled Nishinoya down to straddle him, which Nishinoya much preferred. He took Asahi into a series of curt kisses before he refocused on his neck. He intentionally picked a spot smack dab on the side of Asahi’s neck and began to suck and nip at the spot relentlessly. 

“Noya, stop that, you’re gonna leave a mark,” Asahi whimpered, but Nishinoya ignored him totally. 

Though he received no other protests at the time, Nishinoya knew he’d have to answer for the hickey later, but he wanted to leave a mark behind. Maybe it was immature, but he didn’t care. 

_Let’s see Kaoru hit on you now._

To be extra sure, and to make it seem like he was obliging, Nishinoya moved from the spot in question, admiring the red and purple bruise he’d left behind, and bit into several other parts of Asahi’s ears and upper neck, intentionally leaving signs of his presence behind. For a minute, he was completely removed from the activity itself and became consumed with leaving as many love spots behind as he could. It was only when he felt a pair of warm hands slide up his back, along his spine to give him chills, that he was ripped back to reality. He licked a line from the nape of Asahi’s neck, over his chin, and back to his mouth where he dived into a kiss again, leading with his tongue, to be the one pushing inside that time. After allowing their tongues to swirl around momentarily, Asahi pulled away and began to kiss and bite at Nishinoya’s lower lip, one of his favorite things. 

Nishinoya grunted, thrusting forward in Asahi’s lap. His starved length pushed against the many layers of fabric separating it from Asahi and gave Nishinoya goosebumps. He wanted to touch Asahi all over. He pushed forward again, but that time when it happened, the lack of skin to skin contact upset Nishinoya and he aggressively pulled at Asahi’s shirt, yanking it over his head and tossing it to the other side of the room. He looked down at Asahi’s abdomen and was pleasantly surprised. Every muscle was refined and enticing. 

“Are you working out more?” Nishinoya asked, legitimately curious. 

“The captain of the club here thinks I’m too weak so he made three hours in the weight room part of my training regimen,” Asahi replied, blushing lightly. 

“Thank him for me,” Nishinoya huffed. 

“N-noya…” Asahi responded, embarrassed. 

Nishinoya slid backwards off of Asahi’s lap and spread his legs so he could kneel between them. As he crouched, Asahi took ahold of his shirt and pulled it over his head. Nishinoya leaned forward to Asahi’s exposed stomach and began to lick each ab eliciting mewls of ecstasy from Asahi. As Nishinoya licked his way up Asahi’s stomach to his chest, he inadvertently pressed his stomach against Asahi’s concealed length, feeling how hard it felt through the fabric of his sweatpants. 

_I can almost feel it too well._ Nishinoya stopped and looked down, palming the member as a result of his curiosity, but Asahi moaned at the touch. 

“Y… You’re not wearing underwear,” Nishinoya huffed. 

Asahi snapped his head up, looking down in embarrassment. “I--” 

Nishinoya didn’t give Asahi a chance to respond. He eagerly pulled the waistband of Asahi’s pants down until he could pull his leaking shaft out and then he began to thumb the wet opening gently, suddenly becoming incredibly excited to be with Asahi again. To effectively show his excitement, he leaned forward and licked the tip a few times and then mouthed along the shaft, purposely refraining from taking Asahi in. Normally, Nishinoya would be a fright more aggressive by that point, but he was so happy to just be near Asahi again that he refrained. He wanted things to flow along naturally, and if he was being honest, he was starting to feel so aroused himself that he was ready to speed things up. Ordinarily, Nishinoya would see to it that things lasted a bit longer so he could fully enjoy it, but he couldn’t stand it anymore. He wanted to be inside Asahi. 

It wasn’t as if it surprised Nishinoya that he and Asahi always seemed to be on the same wavelength, but it was almost uncanny when Asahi’s hands found the button to Nishinoya’s jeans and began to undo them. 

“Noya, I’m--” 

“Yeah,” Nishinoya cut him off. 

He slid his way up Asahi’s body, kissing and licking as went. He did stop to linger for a second at each of Asahi’s nipples, pink and hard with excitement, but the sounds Asahi made in response threatened to push Nishinoya right over. He continued to trail kisses up Asahi’s torso until he reached his mouth where he stole a victory kiss as Asahi finally pulled Nishinoya free of his pants and boxers. Nishinoya slid a hand to Asahi’s waist and pulled to implore him to flip. 

Asahi pulled away from the kiss, face red. “L-let’s go to the bedroom.” 

“Nope,” Nishinoya huffed back. “I’m gonna fuck you in this chair if it’s all the same to you.” 

“Yuu,” Asahi groaned, but Nishinoya hushed him with another kiss, tongues fiddling with one another for as long as possible until the repositioning tore them apart. 

At first, Asahi knelt in the chair, but it left him just slightly too high for Nishinoya to gain comfortable access. Nishinoya leaned over Asahi, wrapping his hands around to pinch his nipples as he did so. “Lose the pants, and kneel on the floor,” he whispered. 

Asahi nodded silently, and began to move and Nishinoya took the opportunity to pull off the rest of his clothes, and skip quickly to his bag for the bottle of lube. 

In position, Asahi half sighed, half moaned with his ass in the air. “Hurry, Yuu.” 

Nishinoya stopped and eyed him for a second, face awash with red and neck bruised to hell with hickies. 

_Holy shit._

Nishinoya quickly retrieved the clear liquid and made his way back to Asahi. With a pop of the cap, he drenched his fingers and drizzled a good amount over Asahi’s hole. When he touched it with his pointer finger, Asahi let out a sharp breath interspersed with a whisper of Nishinoya’s name. Preparation was key, he knew that, but he’d explode soon if he didn’t get inside Asahi. Pushing a finger inside, Nishinoya was relieved and intrigued to find he was already fairly open. He slid a second finger inside, scissoring his entrance wide, but it was an easier task than normal. With a loud moan as Nishinoya pressed against his spot inside, Asahi looked over his shoulder back at him. 

“Please, Noya,” Asahi begged. “I’m ready.” 

“I see. When did you--” The truth smacked him. How hard Asahi already was when they started, underwear-less, already fairly opened. “You were jacking off when I got here.” 

Asahi turned his face away and buried it into the pillows of a chair and Nishinoya smiled. _Well timed on my part._ “I can’t really do it with a roommate, but since she’s gone this weekend… I didn’t know you were coming,” he huffed. 

_Wait. She?_ Nishinoya’s smile grew. His aggression started to come out as all his questions got answered and his earlier fears evaporated. He pulled his fingers out of Asahi, smacked his ass once hard, knelt behind him and then dropped some lube on his own excited shaft and lined up.

“Oh, god, Nishinoya please,” Asahi yelped. 

Nishinoya pushed his way inside, reveling in the feeling of Asahi’s hole swallowing his tip and his heat inviting him in. It was so hot and Nishinoya didn’t realize how much he’d missed it. He started by taking long strokes in and out of Asahi, more to last than anything else. He’d draw back, almost to the point of dropping out and then push back in, burying himself totally. Each time he did it, Asahi arched his back and tossed his head back. Nishinoya realized that he actually didn’t love the position because he couldn’t see Asahi’s face. He pulled out, resulting in an obviously dissatisfied grunt from Asahi. Nishinoya pulled on his hip to turn him again and pushed on his shoulders to coax him back up into the chair. 

“I told you,” Asahi groaned between breaths. “Let’s just go to the bedroom.” 

“I told you, I’m fucking you in this chair,” Nishinoya said, utilizing the new position to kiss the taller hungrily. 

Asahi obliged the wish, sitting in the chair and sliding forward enough to lean back and give Nishinoya access again. Nishinoya hooked Asahi’s legs and leaned down over his entrance, his own dick hard enough to slide in without assistance, and when he was buried deep inside Asahi, they both let out loud moans of pleasure. Nishinoya started moving rapidly then, pounding into Asahi repeatedly in search of the goal, and taking pride in his decision to reposition them. Asahi’s flushed face, hickey dotted neck, mouth wide and eyes shut tight with pleasure was a sight to behold. 

Asahi wrapped his arms around Nishinoya’s head and pulled him down enough to bite at his chin and Nishinoya was overcome by the feeling before he knew it was upon him. The intense tingling in his legs and stomach rocketed towards his groin and with another couple hard thrusts, he was emptying into Asahi with a series of loud grunts on which Asahi’s name rode in labored speech. 

Asahi moaned loudly against Nishinoya’s face and with his hands gripping Nishinoya’s shoulders tightly for support, his own seed splashed forward onto his stomach and a significant amount at that. Nishinoya took Asahi into a short, sweet kiss and they both began chuckling. 

“I really, really, really, needed that,” Nishinoya huffed. 

Asahi nodded. “I love you.” 

Nishinoya kissed Asahi on the cheek, feeling relieved for the statement. “I love you too.” 

Nishinoya pulled out slowly and used his nearby t-shirt to wipe Asahi enough until they could get to a better place to clean up properly. Asahi repositioned in the chair and rubbed his neck and Nishinoya actually felt bad. “Sorry, bad positioning,” he huffed. 

Asahi chuckled. “I couldn’t tell at the time.” 

Nishinoya smiled brightly at that statement. “Good.” Nishinoya looked around the apartment that he hadn’t seen more than the entryway and an armchair of, but had already had sex in. “So this place is nice.” 

Asahi laughed. “Yeah. It’s a lot better now.” 

Nishinoya pointed at the flowery arm chair. “Do you own this?” 

“I do not,” Asahi replied. “It’s Kaoru’s.” 

“A woman,” Nishinoya stated, thinking back to Asahi’s earlier mention of ‘she.’ 

“Yeah, I know…” Asahi said. “I was gonna mention it, I just could never find the right time.” Asahi stood up, grabbing Nishinoya’s hand and pulled and Nishinoya followed him along into a bedroom with some of Asahi’s personal affects lying around to make it slightly more familiar to Nishinoya. “Sorry.” 

“No, I…” Nishinoya sighed. “I actually feel a little better that it’s a woman to be honest.” 

“Really?” Asahi pushed Nishinoya to sit on the bed and then ducked into a nearby room where he heard water start to run. “Why?” 

“Well, for starters, you’re terrible with women,” Nishinoya joked, laying back on the bed and inhaling Asahi’s comforting smell from it. 

Asahi walked back into the bedroom. “I am not!” 

“You are. Besides,” Nishinoya continued, “I thought it was a guy, so I was jealous.” 

“Really?” Asahi asked, before recoiling slightly. “Is that why you came here?” 

Nishinoya looked up at him and shrugged. “I came here to see if you wanted to break-up.” 

Asahi was in the process of turning to sit on the bed, but knelt over Nishinoya instead. “Break up!?” 

“Calm down,” Nishinoya hushed. “Only if that was what you wanted.” 

Asahi screwed his face in concern. “Why would I want that?” 

“I don’t know,” Nishinoya said, feeling his cheeks warm. “Lately it feels like you aren’t really interested in me anymore.” 

Asahi smiled warmly. “Nishinoya, I’m always interested in you. What would make you think that?” 

Asahi’s hair fell messily around his head. Nishinoya lifted a hand and threaded it into the brown locks to push him away from his face. “Well when I ask to hang out, you always have some excuse why you can’t. Yesterday I started to offer to come visit and you didn’t even let me finish before you told me ‘no.’” 

Asahi sighed. He wrapped his arms around Nishinoya and rolled, pulling him over on top of him. “I’m really behind because I transferred. Kaoru’s a transfer too, so we’re kind of in the same boat. That’s actually how we got roomed together. I wanted to see you so badly, but I have so much work to do. I knew if we saw one another I wasn’t gonna wanna leave and I wouldn’t get my work done.” 

And just like that, Nishinoya felt bad. He ran his fingers along Asahi’s chest. “I’m sorry.” _I stormed out here like a brat. Obviously, he’d only avoid me for a good reason._

“That’s okay. Thanks for being wild you and coming anyway. I feel better,” Asahi replied. “Is that why you look so tired?”

Nishinoya turned his face down more to hide it from Asahi. “No, I don’t even like you.” 

Asahi chuckled and used his left hand to caress his back and his right to massage Nishinoya’s head; a surefire way to get him to sleep. “You never have to worry about me not being interested in you, Noya. I love you more than anything. I promise to catch up soon so we can see each other more often.” 

Nishinoya groaned. “Don’t over-exert yourself or anything. I’ll just be less of a baby.” 

Asahi kissed Nishinoya on his head and though they both knew they needed a proper shower, neither of them made any attempt to move, except Asahi to pull the covers of his bed over them. As Nishinoya started to drift off, he wondered what nice thing he could do for Asahi to make up for being a brat and distracting him from his work. 

_Maybe I’ll ask Sugawara for help…_ It was the last thoughts that crossed his mind before he fell asleep.


	3. Strength is the Food of the Fool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asahi, Daichi and Sugawara go to watch their underclassmen play in a tournament.

“Aw, I feel a little nostalgic,” Sugawara whined. 

“Yeah,” Daichi added. 

They and Asahi, who were all in town for a break from their University studies, had met up to attend a small tournament that the Miyagi prefecture was hosting. After Nishinoya lost his bite a little bit, due in part (or in total) to missing Asahi, the libero seemed fine as they watched him warm up and Asahi was glad. 

_It felt good to be missed, but not so much that it was upsetting his ability to play._

“Huh, Ennoshita looks right at home as captain, Dai, I suppose it was the right choice after all,” Sugawara said. 

“Told ya,” Daichi said. “There’s something about having experienced real fear and run from it and then having the bravery to come back and face it that makes a strong leader. Asahi taught me that.” 

Asahi blushed lightly. “Me?” 

“Yeah. You’re so weak--” 

Asahi sighed loudly to show his annoyance with the statement. 

“But,” Daichi talked over him, “even after you had your ass handed to you by Date Tech, you came back. It was that kind of bravery that allowed you to overcome your fear of them and beat them. You proved you were a good ace who, next to the captain, is the leader of any good team, and we had a great last season because of you.” 

Asahi didn’t quite know how to respond. Apart from the fact that he often believed Daichi didn’t actually like him a whole lot, he’d never heard him openly compliment someone so strongly apart from Sugawara. “Thanks, Daichi.” 

They stood against the half-wall of the balcony and looked down onto the court. They chatted lightly through the beginning of the game, stopping occasionally to cheer on a good play or swear about a bad one. They were up against Wakutani, the team Coach Ukai called ‘the worst match’ for Karasuno because of their calm playing style and refined teamwork. Though, all things considered, Karasuno was holding their own, but they could never pull more than two or three points ahead before Wakutani would snap back and take the lead. The old third-years were depressed when their underclassmen sacrificed the first set, by only a final point. 

“It’s okay,” Sugawara comforted the ex-captain, fuming so much he looked like he might explode. “Even since we’ve been there, we’ve been a second set team. We’ve probably gone to three sets with more teams than anyone in the prefecture.” 

_That’s true._ Though Karasuno had most notably gone to full sets with Aoba-Johsai, it wasn’t unusual for them to duke it out in full sets with the stronger opponents. “Thank god they have a good, overall stamina,” Asahi observed. 

“It’s out of this world between Hinata, Kageyama and Nishinoya,” Sugawara added. 

Asahi knew first hand just how much stamina Nishinoya truly had; his back stung a little thinking about it. His disdain must have showed on his face because both Daichi and Sugawara were watching him with bunched brows. 

“What?” Asahi asked. 

Sugawara chuckled, long since able to read his best friend’s mind. “Nothing.” 

“Gross,” Daichi grumbled and Asahi’s cheeks hued with embarrassment. 

The whistle signifying the beginning of the second set blared and it drew their attention back to the game. 

“One point at a time!” Ennoshita yelled and Daichi chuckled. 

“He really does seem well suited to it,” Daichi commented. 

The first play, which had Karasuno attacking, ended with the ball being power-spiked by Karasuno’s new ace, Tanaka. Tanaka landed and immediately began yelling a la Hinata, until Ennoshita walked over, gave him nothing more than a severe glare, and Tanaka shut up immediately. Asahi knew the captain and ace were a couple, but that clearly didn’t stop the captain from reigning the ace in whenever he got out of control. 

“You probably had an easier road ace-wise, Dai,” Sugawara huffed. 

Asahi threw his hands up in defeat. “I wasn’t that bad.” 

“It’s probably a little easier that almost all of the regulars are either second or third years though. He didn’t have to try and figure out how to manage that many new people,” Sugawara commented. 

“I don’t know,” Asahi said. “Just because they aren’t regulars doesn’t mean he didn’t have to learn how to work with them.” 

“I spoke with Takeda yesterday and he told me that it’s actually been a bit of a struggle managing the new guys. They’re really excitable, he says, especially the American transfer student,” Daichi explained. 

“That’s the guy with the brown hair down there right?” Sugawara asked. 

“Yeah. Noya says he’s really good, but he’s pretty arrogant,” Asahi explained. “Something like that is so out of place on Karasuno.” 

“Even guys like Tsukishima and Yamaguchi are more mischievous than they are arrogant,” Daichi said. “And Kageyama was already broken by the time he’d gotten to us, so he’s fairly humble.” 

As if he could hear them, Kageyama set the ball to Chris, almost too high, and Chris leapt off the ground, meeting the ball with ease, and spiked it down hard, earning Karasuno their second point of the game. The three former third-years each gasped as they watched. 

“Such power…” Daichi murmured. 

“And height,” Sugawara added. “I’d like to see how he compares to Hinata, but it looks like he’s getting just as high.” 

“He doesn’t seem all that tall, but he’s got a lot of girth. Seems to be handling it okay, though,” Asahi observed. 

The second set did, as expected, appear to be a much easier road for Karasuno than the first. Wakutani was losing steam at the same rate Karasuno was gaining it and it was starting to show. Near the end of the second set, Karasuno had gained two points on Wakutani, and with another point they’d be at match point. 

Asahi watched, almost certain that in the current rotation, with the opposing team serving and Hinata at the apex of Karasuno’s attack that they’d have no problem getting the final two points of the game. 

The ball was served, fundamentally, nothing Karasuno couldn’t handle and in mere seconds they were preparing to attack. Asahi felt like his heart might stop.

 _When you’re playing it feels like it goes so fast, but now I feel like time is slowing down._

“It’s the quick,” Sugawara observed. 

Sure as he’d said it, before Kageyama even had the ball in hand, Hinata was nearly at the top height of his jump and was beginning to spike, when the unthinkable happened. In a split second, Wakutani’s captain, a guy Asahi didn’t recognize from the year prior, was vertical directly in front of Hinata. 

_Did they mark him?_

Asahi knew that Hinata had improved his game immensely and knew how to fight in the air, but whether or not he could do so wasn’t the problem… 

“He’s twice Hinata’s size, his wingspan is plenty to cover his entire attack range,” Daichi observed just as Asahi realized it himself, but it was too late for them. 

Hinata smashed the ball, attempting to spike it straight down, one of the newer skills he’d learned just a few months ago, but in his rush to re-calibrate, and still not having perfected the technique, Hinata got too excited and hit the net. 

“He just struck too late. If he’d gone sooner, he’d’ve had enough space,” Sugawara said. 

The whistle blew and Wakutani cheered. It’s a one point game now. Karasuno didn’t have the luxury of giving away points. They had to get the final two, and back to back, or they’d lose the match and be eliminated from the tournament. 

_As if that wasn’t bad enough…_

Asahi watched as his boyfriend, the key to Karasuno’s desperately needed defense, walked off of the court into the box. 

“That’s not good,” Daichi said. 

Sugawara shook his head in agreement. 

As expected, Karasuno subbed in Yamaguchi when it was Tsukishima’s turn to serve. His pinch serving, which had far and away become one of the most dangerous serves in the prefecture, was bound to get them to match point and it was clear that Wakutani feared it as they all braced and shifted uncomfortably. Yamaguchi’s serve wasn’t just severe, it was unpredictable. At Asahi’s last count while watching him practice right before he graduated, there were fourteen variations. He’d mastered how to serve it to, literally, wherever he wanted and on top of that, he could hit it with the right force to bend it, so that even when it seemed like it was going in one direction, it would suddenly change and do something different, it’d gotten to the point of being near impossible to pick up. The only way to stop him was to hope that the ball goes out of bounds somewhere. 

“Don’t be afraid! It may be a great serve, but we’ve faced great servers before!” the captain of Wakutani shouted, prepped to receive. 

Yamaguchi served and Asahi did his best to predict its path. It’ll waver left and drop early? He was completely wrong. The ball looked as though it would drop right onto the captain’s arms, but a the last second, no, millisecond, it hooked right, staying afloat longer than expected. The captain threw his arms up in an attempt to at least touch the ball, but all he did was knick it, forcing its trajectory even higher so it flew out of bounds with more ease. 

The whistle blew, and with that, Karasuno was at match point. 

Wakutani looked effectively spooked. Yamaguchi served the ball again and that time, it just barely cleared the net and dropped right away. It would have worked, had it not been for Wakutani’s skilled libero, who couldn’t go for the too far forward ball himself, but shouted for a nearby teammate to dig for it. The ball flew up and everyone watched it closely. Sugawara, who was powerless from the balcony, noticed it first. 

“Setter dump,” he murmured. 

Daichi and Asahi looked at him in shock, still unsure as to how he could always see it. Was it just because he was a setter and knew what he’d do in that situation? 

“...but without Nishinoya…” Daichi grumbled. 

“Yeah,” Asahi huffed. 

And of course, they were right. The setter tipped the ball just over the net, and though Kageyama and Ennoshita seemed to figure it out, they did so too late, and fell just outside of the ball. 

“Shit,” Daichi spat. “Now it’s a deuce.” 

Yamaguchi left the court, along with Hinata, and both Tsukishima and Nishinoya re-entered. 

“Hinata’s out, but Chris is in front now. Kinda hate to leave it all up to a first year though,” Sugawara said. 

Daichi scoffed. “That’s literally all we did last year.” 

“What about me?” Asahi yelped. “All that stuff you just said about me being a great leader and all?” 

“Uh…” Daichi stuttered. 

“Seriously,” Asahi growled. 

“Ah! Nishinoya!” 

The bickering third years looked down at the court and they’d apparently missed something critical. The ball was flying away from Chris, who was in the air as if he was blocking and Asahi could tell he’d tipped the ball and sent it flying out of bounds. It was dropping near the edge of the court and if anyone could dig it up, Nishinoya could, but something was wrong. 

“He’s moving way too fast,” Daichi said. 

“He’s frantic because he knows they need to get the point,” Sugawara added, but Asahi looked ahead of him and became much more nervous. 

Even if he gets the ball, he’s gonna smash into that bench. Nishinoya was small enough that moving at such a high speed, he’d either trip right over it or slide into it if he fell. 

“He’s gonna get hurt,” Asahi whined. 

“He’ll be okay. That libero’s no joke,” Daichi said. 

Nishinoya leapt out so that he could fly out of bounds without his feet touching illegal playing area and extended his arm as far as he could. He managed to get out under the ball and knock it back in, but it was his downfall. Where he may have simply dropped if he hadn’t gone for the ball, his arm extended out pulled his weight forward and he half turned in the direction of his extended arm, and while most of his body hit the court, missing the bench, his head wasn’t so lucky. It may have just been Asahi’s imagination, but he was certain he could hear the bang of his skull as it contacted with the metal bench. It wasn’t necessarily taking advantage, but in the shock of both teams as they watched Nishinoya lay motionless on the ground, Kageyama repaid Wakutani with a setter dump of his own, snagging the point. 

Yet neither team cheered or even moved. The only movement was Tanaka as he ran to Nishinoya’s side. He shook the libero lightly. 

Asahi felt like he might throw up. He’s not moving. “Why isn’t he moving?” 

All of a sudden Tanaka turned, holding his hand out. Even from as far away from him as Asahi was, he could see his hand was covered in blood. Ukai rushed over to him, shooing the team as they closed in on him, including Tanaka, whom Ennoshita had to pull back on his own, and console personally. The sixty seconds may as well have been an hour or a year to Asahi. 

_He still isn’t moving._ “Why isn’t he moving!?” Asahi asked, more panicked. 

He felt a bit lightheaded when two tournament medics walked over with a white stretcher, and lifted Nishinoya onto it. The teams and audience members clapped as they walked him off of the court, but Asahi’s vision was blurring and breathing was laboring. 

“Asahi, you have to calm down,” he heard Sugawara muffle from, what felt like, miles away. 

“Take him down,” Daichi responded, equally far away, and soon Asahi felt himself being pulled. 

The scene replayed over and over in his head, specifically the ding of the contact; the exact moment when Asahi had predicted Nishinoya would get hurt, but was powerless to stop it. 

“I’m sure he’s okay, Asahi,” Sugawara comforted, but Asahi couldn’t see how. 

“His head banged,” Asahi murmured. “I heard it.” 

“You didn’t hear it,” Sugawara comforted as they rushed down the stairs. 

“I did,” Asahi replied. 

“You didn’t,” Sugawara retorted. “When… When it happened to Daichi, I was certain I’d heart a bone break. I know that he smacked heads with Tanaka, but I’d convinced myself he’d broken the arm he landed on.” He sighed. “During moments like those, you’re always certain you know exactly what happened, but most of it is in your mind because that’s how concerned you are. I’m afraid…” Sugawara smiled. “I’m afraid we simply love these men too much.” 

It was strange hearing it so bluntly put, but it really was the truth. “There was blood.” 

“Daichi bled too, and lost a tooth, but he was back for the next game,” Sugawara replied. 

“They had to carry him off,” Asahi said. 

“A precaution I’m sure,” Sugawara said. “Daichi moved on his own and had hit another person, but Nishinoya hit that metal bench so they probably wouldn’t have let him stand on his own even if he could’ve.” 

Asahi took deep even breaths as they turned out of the stairwell, down the hall that would lead to the first aid room. He was incredibly grateful for Sugawara. Apart from having experienced something similar, he was simply the kind of person it’s near impossible not to be calm around. 

_Still, the fact remains. Calming Sugawara or no, Nishinoya’s hurt and there’s nothing I can do._

“A. Sa. Hi.” On the last syllable, Sugawara smacked Asahi’s back and Asahi looked at him. He cast a warm smile, closing his eyes in a way that made him appear more innocent than Asahi knew he was. “It’ll be fine.” 

Asahi nodded. He sincerely hoped so. 

Asahi and Sugawara turned to enter the medical room, and it actually made Asahi nervous that he didn’t hear much of anything. There was no discussion or conversation of any kind, the room was entirely silent. 

“Uh, oh, Azumane…” Yachi yelped from near the doorway. 

A curtain was pulled separating where Asahi and Sugawara stood from the bed Asahi assumed Nishinoya was laying in. She looked in the direction of the bed and Asahi walked around and gasped slightly at the sight. Nishinoya was laying in the hospital bed with a fairly large wrap around the right side of his temple. Standing in the room and seeing Ukai speaking with the nurse, their voices were suddenly very loud. 

_But I was so certain it was silent before._

_‘During moments like those, you’re always certain you know exactly what happened, but most of it is in your mind because that’s how concerned you are.’_

_‘I’m afraid we simply love these men too much.’_

Asahi looked down at Nishinoya with his eyes closed, breathing in and out peacefully, as if nothing was wrong. 

“Oh, Asahi. Good timing. Do you know Nishinoya’s blood type?” Ukai asked after noticing he’d entered the room. 

Asahi didn’t look up from Nishinoya. “B positive.” 

“Allergies?” Ukai asked. 

“Shellfish. No medicines,” Asahi replied. 

Ukai rubbed the back of his head. “Uh, doc, you might be better off with Asahi here. He and Nishinoya are… close.” 

“So I see,” the nurse replied. 

“Yachi, Suga. I’ll leave them too you,” Ukai huffed. 

“Actually, Hitoka, would you mind going to check on the game? I’m sure Nishinoya will want to know when he wakes up,” Sugawara said, and Asahi knew it was another ploy to ease the tension. 

“U-um, okay,” Yachi sang, fluttering away out of the medical room behind Ukai. 

“Don’t be so worried,” the nurse said. Asahi looked up at him and he was smiling back with warm amber eyes that sort of reminded Asahi of Nishinoya’s. “It was a hard hit, but nothing too damaging. He’ll have some bad headaches for a few days, but I doubt he’ll even have a concussion.” 

Asahi nodded. “Thank you.” 

“I didn’t want to administer any medicine without knowing his allergies, but with your confirmation we can give him some pain reliever. If he doesn’t come to in about a half an hour, we can use an IV,” the nurse explained. 

“Thank you, sir,” Sugawara answered and with those final words, the nurse was out of the room. 

Sugawara sat in the chair that Yachi had originally been sitting in near the door and Asahi sat on the nurse’s stool and rolled it near Nishinoya’s bed. He stared at him with great concern. Again, he was likely making it up, but he seemed abnormally motionless and Asahi found himself considering the worst. 

“I remember when it happened to Daichi; have nightmares about it actually,” Sugawara said. 

Asahi did, then, look up at Sugawara. “Really?”

“The truth is, I always thought Daichi played a little too hard, especially when our backs were against the wall. Looking back, I think I knew the second things were going bad, but I froze. I could have called out to him or Tanaka, or they weren’t even that far away from me, I could have jumped in and kept them from colliding, at least colliding the way they did,” Sugawara explained and it reminded Asahi of the way he felt the second he knew Nishinoya was going to get hurt. “It was a really long time before I got over it. I mean, I would have been horrified if it had been anyone, but it wasn’t anyone, it was Daichi.” 

“Yeah,” Asahi replied, completely understanding the sentiment. 

“Every time Daichi went near a ball for the rest of the day, my heart dropped a little. I was so certain that he was hurt worse than he was and it was all of a sudden going to turn up at a completely random time and cause another collision, or something worse,” Sugawara explained. Asahi thought back on the grueling Shiratorizawa match and found himself feeling bad for Sugawara. _There was more opportunities than one to think Daichi was going to get hurt in that match._ “But he was fine.” Sugawara chuckled. “He told me that probably 8,000 times. ‘Suga I’m fine. Koushi, I’m fine.’ It was a long time before I believed him. I think the bruise had been gone for a few weeks before I stopped jumping every time he coughed or sneezed. It’s just the reality of it all again.” 

“‘We love these men too much?’” Asahi repeated Sugawara’s earlier words. 

“I’m afraid so,” Sugawara said. 

Asahi chuckled, no doubt surprising his best friend. “Can you imagine if the roles were reversed? We’re much calmer than they are and, I don’t want to flatter myself, but…” 

“Yeah,” Sugawara agreed without even hearing the entire statement. “I think if the shoe were on the other foot, they’d be turning this world upside down. You haven’t seen it, but Daichi is horrifying when he’s angry.” 

“I’ve seen Daichi angry before,” Asahi said. 

Sugawara shook his head dramatically. “No. You haven’t.” 

The statement brought goosebumps to Asahi’s skin. He thought Daichi was terrifying when angry from what he’d seen personally. 

_Is there a scarier Daichi than that?!_ Asahi definitely did not want to meet that Daichi. 

The room was silent for a while, for real that time, as Asahi sat and watched Nishinoya breathe in and out. Please wake up. Sugawara started giggling all of a sudden and Asahi looked up at him. 

“What?” he asked. 

“I still remember the look on your face when Nishinoya joined the club,” Sugawara said. 

Asahi could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks. “Shut up.” 

“You were so awe-struck. I’d never seen you like that before,” Sugawara chuckled as he recounted. “Well, in your defense, he is pretty striking. Tell him and I’ll kill you, but I’ve always thought he was kind of attractive.” 

“Do remember that time he and Daich were playing--” 

“YES! The summer of our second year and they were playing volleyball at the beach!” Sugawara yelped. 

“Yeah and all I could think about was how--” 

“You kind of wished you were the soccer ball?” Sugawara finished. 

“The sand would have been fine too…” Asahi added. “Or the net.” 

“Or their shorts…” He and Asahi laughed and Sugawara shook his head. “They can never, ever, know.” 

“If I ever start to tell anyone this conversation I want you to hit me repeatedly,” Asahi huffed. 

“Yeah, because that wasn’t already my plan,” Sugawara retorted. 

Asahi looked down at Nishinoya. Remembering the good times with Sugawara was plenty to distract him, but Nishinoya was still laying on the bed, not awake or moving apart from the slow rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. 

“Hey, you know what…” Sugawara began again, pulling Asahi’s attention back to him. “You never made good on our bet.” 

“What bet?” Asahi asked innocently, though of course he remembered the bet. 

Sugawara cocked his head and half lidded his eyes. “You know exactly which bet I’m talking about.” Asahi shook his head and Sugawara crossed his arms. “Remember. Back when Daichi and I started going out and you were so worried you’d never find someone?” 

Asahi blushed remembering. “Mmmmmm…?” 

“And I bet that, once you accepted your gayness of course, that you’d fall in love with someone wild who was like the polar opposite of you and you bet that you’d find someone mild-mannered like yourself,” Sugawara dug up the buried story. “And I won. Not only did you find someone wild, but he is truly the polar opposite of you. Tall-short. Wild-tame. Spiker, air, Libero, ground. Your names mean morning and evening and even your birthdays are 10/10 and 01/01. That’s like divine intervention or something.” 

Asahi thought so too. As sappy or embarrassing as it may be to think, he really did feel that he and Nishinoya were made for each other. “Yeah, you’re right. You won.” 

“And you still haven’t paid up,” Sugawara said. “When would that be, by the way?”

“I… Um… Soon…” Asahi replied, remembering the incredibly embarrassing payment for the bet. 

“Brat,” Sugawara barked. 

“I am not,” Asahi stuttered. “I’ve… been busy.” 

“Uh huh,” Sugawara huffed, unconvinced. “How’s school since you’ve come back by the way?” 

“Good. I mean, it was rough at first because I had so much catching up to do, but I’m all caught up now, so my second year should be much better,” Asahi said. 

“That’s good. I think Daichi and I are gonna liv--” 

“A… Asa… hi.” Asahi whipped his head down and Sugawara leaned forward in his chair as Nishinoya whimpered. 

“Noya?” Asahi squeaked. 

“Asahi?” Noya murmured. 

Asahi leaned down to him. “Yeah?” 

“Wh… What was… the payment… for the bet?” Nishinoya grumbled out. 

Asahi sat back in his stool. “Noya!” 

“Not cool, Nishinoya,” Sugawara hissed, slinking back himself. 

“What was the payment?” Nishinoya asked again. 

Asahi stood up, stool rolling away in the force. “I’m leaving.” 

“No!” Nishinoya reached out quickly and took Asahi’s hand before he got too far away. “I”m sorry.” He opened his eyes slowly and Asahi’s heart raced. I’m glad he’s okay. “Actually, you know what I was thinking as I hit my head back then.” 

He pulled Asahi’s hand and Asahi leaned down over him. “What?”

“I was thinking… What was the payment for the bet?” Nishinoya asked. 

Asahi stood up, groaning as he went. “You’re an ass. I was seriously worried about you.” 

“Asahi! What was the payment for the bet?” Nishinoya whined. 

Asahi scoffed. “I hope you get shorter.” 

Nishinoya shot up into a sitting position in the hospital bed. “Wha--OW!” Nishinoya grabbed his head around the area where the bandage was. 

“Nishinoya?!” Sugawara yipped and it caused Asahi to turn back towards the wild libero. 

Nishinoya groaned in pain and Asahi rushed to his side. “What is it, Yuu?” 

“Head,” Nishinoya said. “Sat up too fast.” 

“Are you okay? Do feel dizzy? Can you see okay?” Asahi asked. 

“Asahi,” Nishinoya mumbled. 

Asahi took Nishinoya’s free hand gingerly. “Yeah, Noya?” Asahi asked. 

“What was the payment for the--” 

Asahi ripped his hand away. “You’re a dick.” He stormed away. “I’m going to get the nurse.” 

Asahi heard Nishinoya continue to groan. “Suga, please, what was the payment--” 

“I’m not telling you anything. You’re an ass,” Sugawara hissed. 

“An ass you’ve always found attractive.” The statement was bunched against sounds of pain and anguish. 

“I hope you get shorter too,” Sugawara spat. 

“WILL PEOPLE PLEASE QUIT WISHING THAT?!”

Asahi listened to Nishinoya’s voice and couldn’t help but smile as he walked away to find the nurse. _‘We love these men too much.’ Sorry Suga, but for me, that’s an egregious understatement._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, they lost the game, and though he should have felt bad, Nishinoya felt relieved that the new, first year libero wasn't able to carry the team.


	4. A Change of Pace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sugawara is acting weird, and Nishinoya needs to figure out why.

_It happened again._ Nishinoya looked up at Sugawara and he blushed and looked away. _What the fuck?_

It wasn’t just that Nishinoya considered Sugawara a good friend, but he was his boyfriend’s best friend and he was in a relationship with another good friend of his, Daichi. Any reason why Sugawara suddenly couldn’t seem to meet Nishinoya’s gaze couldn’t possibly be good. He munched his dinner lightly, knowing that his double date with the other three wasn’t necessarily the best time to confront Sugawara about what was going on, but he needed to before the day was done. As they walked through the streets of Sendai he was beginning to think he’d never get the chance. 

“Oh, Daichi, look. It’s those sweatshirts I was telling you about,” Asahi murmured, pointing into a nearby storefront. 

“Oh, yeah. I wanna go look,” Daichi replied, unlinking his hand from Suga’s. 

“I’ll come with,” Asahi replied. “Stay with Suga?” he asked of Nishinoya. 

Nishinoya nodded. Perfect. 

“U-u-uh, I’ll come in with you,” Sugawara replied. 

“No, it’s okay, Suga. I wanna catch up anyway. Stupid ex-captain and ex-ace take up all the talking space,” Nishinoya covered. 

“Heh, um, okay,” Sugawara said. 

Asahi and Daichi chuckled as they walked into the store and Nishinoya sat next to Sugawara on a planter outside. Sugawara kept his face turned down and fiddled with one of the rips in his jeans put there by design. 

“Suga,” Nishinoya began softly.

Sugawara blushed. “S--so, what is it you want to catch up on? How are your grades?”

“Sugawara,” Nishinoya pressed. 

“Things are good on the team?” 

“Suga,” Nishinoya barked, annoyed at the coy blushing and fiddling. “What's wrong with you?” 

“H-h-h-huh? I don't know what you're talking about,” Sugawara stuttered. 

“Liar,” Nishinoya scoffed. “Every time you look at me your face turns bright red and you look away. What is the deal?” 

“Nothing,” Sugawara squeaked, octaves higher than normal. 

“Suga, come on. Daichi is a good friend and I love Asahi and--” 

Sugawara’s head shot up, beat red. “Wha-- I’m not into you!” 

“You said you found me attractive,” Nishinoya replied arrogantly. 

“I also said you weren't to repeat that,” Sugawara hissed. “That's not what this is.” 

“But it is something?” Nishinoya asked. 

Sugawara averted his gaze again and blushed. “Um…” 

“Suga, just put it out in the open. Talk about it and it’ll be better,” Nishinoya said. 

Sugawara huffed. “That's pretty mature sounding for you.” 

“Well, recently Asahi and I, uh… Well, the details don’t matter. I learned that lesson recently,” Nishinoya explained. 

“Yeah, I uh… Asahi told me… about that…” Sugawara murmured. “I guess that’s what this is…” 

“I'm confused,” Nishinoya stated bluntly. 

“I talked to Asahi the next day and he was in a much better mood than he’d been in.” Nishinoya felt a surge of pride. “I asked him what changed and he told me you two had finally had a chance to, um, connect…” 

“So all this is because you knew we had sex? We’ve been at it for a while now, Suga. In fact, remember when we all slept over at your house right before you graduated? I couldn't sleep because I was ha--” 

“AHHH! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR THAT NISHINOYA!!! WHERE DID YOU DO IT?!” A passerby jumped and giggled at Sugawara and he blushed severely. “You know what, I don’t wanna know. Don’t tell me it was in my bed…”

 _Everyone was asleep in the living room so…_ “Okay. I won’t tell you.” 

Sugawara shivered. “Noya!” 

Nishinoya snickered. “Seriously though, it’s nothing to get all shy about.” 

“It’s not… that you had sex… it's… how,” Sugawara mumbled, gripping his bottom lip in his teeth.

“Huh? How? What do you mean?” Nishinoya asked. “I mean, I get a little aggressive, but he likes it. At least when he’s--”

“Nishinoya. You have to stop with the details. Stop. Please,” Sugawara begged. “It’s not that. It’s the, um, dynamics?” Sugawara cleared his threat nervously. “I was surprised to learn that you, um, were the, uh… pitcher.” 

“‘Pitcher?’ Why are we talking about baseball?” 

“I, rggh.” Sugawara sighed. “I guess because of your stature… I assumed you were, um…” Sugawara made a series of dramatic, confusing hand gestures, “being entered…” he finally said boldly. 

“Uh,” Nishinoya understood, “oh.” 

“Yeah…” Sugawara kicked his black converse into the dirt. 

“Why were you talking about that? Does he,” fear rocked Nishinoya, “not like it?” 

“Oh, no, the opposite. There’s nothing like taking it.” Sugawara’s face turned bright red. “Oh, god, I can’t believe I said that out loud.” 

Nishinoya could sense the truth of it in the way Sugawara phrased his statement. “Have you done both?” 

“Um…” Sugawara rubbed the back of his head. “Yes…” 

“Really?!” Nishinoya was suddenly intimately intrigued. “Bottom is better?” 

“Noya!” Sugawara hissed as a few girls passing by blushed. 

“What?” Nishinoya griped, never one to be embarrassed by his sexuality or conversation involving. He threw his hands into the air. “We are gay!!” 

“Nishinoya! Stop that!” Sugawara scolded, ripping Nishinoya’s arms down out of the air. 

Nishinoya chuckled. “Just tell me. Am I missing something?” 

Sugawara’s jaw dropped a little. “You’ve never… um. I mean, Asahi’s always uh…” 

Nishinoya nodded. “Yeah, why?” 

“Oh, um… Yeah, Noya, you're missing something,” Sugawara grumbled. 

“Wha-- Tell me about it!” Nishinoya yelped. 

“No!” Sugawara retorted. 

“Suga, come on!” Nishinoya pulled at Sugawara’s arm. 

“I… okay look,” Sugawara began and Nishinoya bounced in place with excitement. “It’s like, I don't know…” Suga’s cheeks were flushed. “It's not just how connected you are, it’s like, there are specific, I don't know, devices that create different feelings…” Sugawara shook his head. “I can't do this. If you want to know, just try it.”

“Well, if it's so great, is he gonna wanna give it up?” Nishinoya asked. 

“Oh, yeah. If he's never done it before, he'll love it,” Sugawara said confidently, then his cheeks hued again. “Just, talk to him about it. No more talking to me about it.” 

Nishinoya nodded, excited he’ finally figured out a good way to pay Asahi back for being a brat a few weeks prior and then scaring him half to death when he got injured during his last tournament. “Thanks, Suga.”

Sugawara nodded. “Yeah.” 

“Never thought we’d have a conversation like this did ya?” Nishinoya asked.

Sugawara shook his head dramatically. “No, I did not.”

***

“What’s gotten into you?” Nishinoya asked as Asahi tackled him to his bed in his apartment.

“Nothing spectacular,” Asahi said, drenching Nishinoya’s lips, chin, and neck with kisses. “I just want you.” 

_That's hot._ “Well, I have no complaints,” Nishinoya said, slinking his hands between he and Asahi to unzip his sweater. 

There was a knock on the door and Nishinoya growled. “Get your own place already.” 

Asahi chuckled and climbed off the bed and crossed to his door. He unlocked it and opened it and then Nishinoya could see Asahi’s roommate, Kaoru. She was fairly fit with incredibly long black hair that contrasted with her bright green eyes. She was abnormally tall, but otherwise plain looking. Nishinoya couldn't help but think that if Asahi was into women, she'd be his type, but he quickly expelled the thoughts from his brain. _Don't run your jealous ass down that road, Nishinoya…_

“Hey, Asa. Hi, Noya!” She greeted cheerily. 

“Hey there, Kaoru,” Nishinoya replied, sitting up on his forearms and making no attempt to hide his boner in his sweatpants. 

“This is probably gonna happen regardless, right?” Kaoru sang. 

“Yes,” Asahi and Nishinoya chorused. 

“Seriously, you two.” Kaoru shook her head and chuckled. “Well I was gonna buy you dinner, but if I'm officially being run out so you two can fuck, you're on your own.”

Nishinoya clicked his tongue against his teeth. “I don't like choosing sex over food, Kaoru.”

Kaoru put a hand on her hip. “You do though.” 

“Every time,” Nishinoya spat. “Have you seen this man?” 

“Yuu…” Asahi groaned. 

“Have fun,” Kaoru hummed, whipping her hair around her as she turned to leave. “Don't break anything.” 

Asahi shut and locked his bedroom door and then turned back toward Nishinoya. Nishinoya pointed at Asahi’s shirt and jacket. “Get rid of those. They piss me off.” 

Asahi chuckled and pulled off his sweat jacket, irresponsibly whipping out his incredible biceps barely contained under the sleeves of his maroon t-shirt, which only hung around half a second longer as Asahi pulled it off as well. Nishinoya stuck out his tongue and licked his lips and Asahi blushed. Nishinoya dropped to his back on the bed and put his arms behind his head with a smug smile. 

“Much better,” Nishinoya sighed. “You may resume kissing me.”

Asahi crawled over Nishinoya, excitedly taking him into a kiss. Nishinoya slid his tongue across Asahi’s bottom lip, and sucked it. Asahi groaned, sliding a hand up Nishinoya’s stomach, pushing his shirt up in the process. He flicked his thumbs over Nishinoya’s nipples, hard with excitement, until Nishinoya’s shirt had reached his neck and required the breaking of the kiss to pull it off. When Nishinoya sat up to pull his shirt off, Asahi wrapped his arms around his back and flipped them, bringing Nishinoya to straddle him. Nishinoya tossed his own black t-shirt aside and gasped lightly when he felt the warmth of Asahi’s tongue on the sensitive spots, teased with his hands only moments before. He seized the opportunity to reach behind Asahi’s head and pull out the hair tie holding the long mess back and ran his fingers into it. 

Asahi looked up at him and chuckled. “Why do you always take my hair out?”

Nishinoya shrugged. “Cuz you're hot.” 

Asahi set his forehead to Nishinoya’s chest and laughed. “Here I thought it was gonna be some deep philosophical reason.” 

“What about me is ‘philosophical?’” Nishinoya asked. 

“Good point,” Asahi responded, kissing Nishinoya’s pecs. 

Nishinoya’s heart leapt when he felt Asahi start to slip his hand beneath his waistband. The excitement rushed straight to the area of focus and reminded Nishinoya that he was significantly considering changing things up a la Sugawara, but he wasn't sure how to bring it up. He ran his hands over Asahi’s shoulders, feeling the dominant muscles and scoffed.

“What?” Asahi asked with a snicker, slipping his hand over Nishinoya’s excited member through the fabric of his boxers. 

Nishinoya let out a low grunt and sighed. “Even your shoulders are hot. People aren’t supposed to have hot shoulders.” 

Asahi shook his head with a curt laugh. “Sorry?” 

“You should be,” Nishinoya said. “It’s not fair.” 

Asahi’s brown eyes settled warmly, jolting Nishinoya’s heart. “You don't think you're hot?” 

Nishinoya could feel his cheeks warming. “Th-that's not what I said.” 

Asahi rubbed Nishinoya’s back sweetly. “It was insinuated.” 

“Big words, Asahi,” Nishinoya hissed. 

“Implied,” Asahi replied, smiling. 

“Nope,” Nishinoya spat. 

Asahi chuckled and kissed Nishinoya’s neck. “That's what it sounded like.” 

“Why not just say that?” Nishinoya barked. 

“Sorry.” Asahi kissed Nishinoya lovingly. “Cuz, you’re really hot.” 

Asahi kissed various spots on Nishinoya’s neck and even took his earlobe into his mouth to nibble, something that ordinarily drove Nishinoya wild, but he was distracted. He was suddenly overcome by a desire to be ravished by Asahi and it was slightly frightening. His heart raced as he thought over how to bring it up. 

“Noya, you okay?” Asahi asked. 

Nishinoya shook his head and looked down at Asahi, heart beating when their eyes met. “Yeah, why?” 

“Well, for one, I still have my pants on. Two, you haven't ordered me to do anything,” Asahi said with a light blush. 

“Yeah…” Nishinoya said softly, “about that…”

Nishinoya hesitated. He was normally so to-the-point and blunt, but the idea of asking Asahi to… switch things up… was rendering him fairly shy. 

“What is it?” Asahi asked, leaning forward to lay a quick kiss on Nishinoya’s chest. 

“Um… I, uh… Had an interesting conversation with, um, Suga earlier…” Nishinoya said. 

Asahi sighed. “Was it about what I told him?” 

“It was…” Nishinoya murmured. 

“Noya, I’m sorry. I don’t want you to think I talk about our personal stuff or anything. It just came up, and then he started acting all weird,” Asahi began to explain, but Nishinoya shook his head. 

“No, that’s fine, I don’t really care. He is your best friend. Um, it was where the conversation went…” Nishinoya said. 

“Oh,” Asahi said, bunching his brow in confusion, “where did it go?”

“Um… Well, we starting talking about, uh… dynamics. Like um, who, uh, you know, takes versus who gives…” Nishinoya was fumbling his words all over the place. “He happened to mention that he’s preferential to, um… taking…” 

Asahi nodded. “Yeah.” He cocked his head. “What’s wrong with that?” 

“Oh, no, nothing, um, wrong. He said that uh, we, er, I, should… try it.” The last words were nearly silent. 

Asahi’s eyes widened and the whole of his face turned bright red. “You want to… take?” 

Nishinoya shrugged. “Maybe…” Asahi chuckled and Nishinoya shot him an angry glance. “Don’t laugh at me,” he snapped. 

“No, I’m sorry. It’s just… I’ve thought about it,” Asahi said. “I don’t know, I guess I didn’t think you’d be into it and I’m fine with the way things are now, so…” 

It was a rare day when Asahi was the confident, well-spoken one, while Nishinoya blushed with embarrassment, but there they were. “Really?” Nishinoya asked.

“Yeah,” Asahi replied quietly, taking a kiss from Nishinoya. “I never want you to be uncomfortable.” 

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Nishinoya said. “I want to try all sorts of stuff with you.”

“Really?” Asahi asked with a uncharacteristically sly smile. “Like what?” 

Nishinoya blushed again. “M-mind your own business.” 

Asahi scoffed loudly. “How are the sexual dalliances you’d like to involve us in not my business?” 

“I never said all sexual stuff!” Nishinoya intended to bark, but more like yipped. 

“Oh…” Asahi smiled. “Just stuff in general?” 

Nishinoya shrugged again, heart jumping slightly when Asahi suddenly laid back on the bed, bringing Nishinoya with him. Nishinoya was over the conversation at that point. He started to kiss along Asahi’s jawline and nibble at the aforementioned fantastic shoulders. He didn’t know if they’d be trying something new or not, he didn’t care, he just wanted to do something. 

Nishinoya slid his way down Asahi’s body, kissing over his chest and stomach, stopping when he reached the hem of his pants. 

“The complaints about your pants have been duly noted,” Nishinoya hissed. 

He pulled Asahi's pants down slowly, hooking his boxers and pulling them along as well, until he could finally pull Asahi out. He slid his hands over the hot member, pulling at it a couple times before touching his tongue to it. Asahi let out a sound something between a moan and a sigh and it excited Nishinoya. He licked one time, from his balls to the tip, realizing in the journey that it took a while. He knew Asahi’s size, obviously, but thinking about taking in in, made it much more important of a fact. He closed over Asahi, tasting the salty substance leaking out of the tip and loving the Asahi arched his back with a moan. The moment sent the fear rushing from Nishinoya’s mind. He didn’t really care what happened. He loved Asahi, but he lived for the opportunity to make him moan and cry out, however that occurred. 

“Ah, Noya…” Asahi groaned, his hand gripping the back of Nishinoya’s head. 

Nishinoya moved faster, bobbing up and down. He smiled as Asahi started to thrust up into him and normally Nishinoya would deny him, it was his temperament, but he really wanted Asahi to come. He pulled gentle teeth along the shaft then licked at the tip, before taking him whole again. Asahi’s grunts quickened and Nishinoya knew he was close. 

Suddenly, Asahi’s hands were down pushing at Nishinoya’s head, as if to stop him. “N-Noya, wait.”

Nishinoya was a slight mystified. He didn’t think he possessed the ability to stop himself so close, so he had no idea how Asahi managed to. Nishinoya pulled off of Asahi and looked up at him, face flushed, hair tousled, and a few of the spots Nishinoya had kissed earlier darkening into bruises. 

“What?” Nishinoya asked, still entirely shocked and confused. 

Asahi pulled at his head, pulling him up, and maneuvering him onto his back. He leaned down over Nishinoya and kissed him, parting with a smile so devilish, Nishinoya wondered if he was still dealing with his meek boyfriend. 

“I’m taking over,” Asahi said. 

Nishinoya’s heart slammed and eyes widened. If he had anyway to rewind that moment and play it on repeat, he’d pay any amount of money to have it. It was past sexy, past irresistible; Nishinoya knew no words good enough to describe what it was. He opened his mouth to respond, but it was like his voice had been turned off. In lieu of the words that wouldn’t come out, he simply nodded. Then, Asahi’s smile settled as he leaned forward and found a place on Nishinoya’s neck, just below his jawline, to abuse. As he did so, he slid one of his own legs in between Nishinoya’s, grinding his knee against his groin. Nishinoya grunted. 

“You have to do more than that, I’m going crazy,” Nishinoya huffed as Asahi sucked relentlessly in a place that Nishinoya couldn’t help but feel was in an intentionally hard to hide location. 

Asahi snickered against his skin and it sent chills down his spine. He pulled back and looked down over him. “Sorry, sir.” He tossed in a curt kiss. “You’re no longer in control.” 

Nishinoya felt like his skin was on fire. He felt it, in full, for the first time since speaking with Sugawara. 

He wanted Asahi to fuck him senseless. 

He ground down against Asahi’s leg, an action that caused Asahi to pull his leg back out of reach. “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Asahi clicked. “Don’t be so impatient. I’m going to do this right.” 

Nishinoya nodded. “Sorry.” 

Asahi leaned down, putting his mouth near Nishinoya’s ear. “Good boy.” 

Goosebumps crawled across Nishinoya’s skin. He liked the treatment. 

He liked it a lot. 

Asahi slid a hand across Nishinoya’s waist, lacing his hands into the waistband of his pants, and began to pull them down slowly, taking his boxers as well. With a small lift from Nishinoya, Asahi pulled the rest of Nishinoya’s clothes from his body and then surprised Nishinoya when he hooked his arms around each of Nishinoya’s thighs and, rather aggressively, pulled him forward to the edge of bed. He crouched low and began to bite and suck at the inside of Nishinoya’s thighs, working his way slowly towards his ass. Nishinoya took a deep breath as Asahi’s mouth got gradually closer to his entrance, until he finally felt the cool feeling of his tongue settle over it. 

He let out a soft sigh. 

_So far so good._

Using his hands to part each of Nishinoya’s cheeks, Asahi took respite in Nishinoya’s reception of the feeling, and began to work his hole quicker. Nishinoya gasped when, after several licks and sucks over the hole, Asahi pushed his tongue inside. Asahi moaned and the sound vibrated into Nishinoya, and he moaned as well, arching his back. The feeling was unlike anything he’d ever experienced before, and by his knowledge of having the shoe be on the other foot, this was at the lower end of the pleasure scale. 

Keeping one hand in place to keep Nishinoya parted, Asahi slid the other up to stroke his cock, and Nishinoya let out a full moan then. Asahi chuckled and Nishinoya grunted at the feeling of it. 

_Is it really going to get better from here?_

Asahi pulled himself away, something Nishinoya did not appreciate, but a second later, a finger was perched where his tongue just was. He leaned over Nishinoya, bring their foreheads together, and smiled at Nishinoya below him. 

“You sure?” he asked softly. 

Nishinoya’s face was already burning, along with the rest of his body, so there wasn’t much left to hue with embarrassment. “You’re not supposed to break character.” 

Asahi chuckled. “You’re right,” he slowly started to push his finger in. “Hopefully you’ll forgive me.” 

Nishinoya’s eyes clasped shut reflexively as the pressure of Asahi’s finger pushed into him. Did he have a high threshold for pain or something? He didn’t experience the pain he was expecting, but as Asahi began to move his finger in and out gently, the pleasure was overwhelming. Asahi added a second finger to Nishinoya’s opening and it had him making noises he didn’t know he was capable of. Nishinoya bunched the sheets around him as Asahi started to poke around inside him, and his mind was going fuzzy with the feeling of it. 

“Look at me, Yuu,” Asahi ordered. 

Nishinoya opened his eyes, and Asahi was looking back at him with a stained face. He pulled Nishinoya into a kiss as he added a third finger, and Nishinoya was losing his mind at the feeling of being opened up. It was better than he thought, and he was only being fingered. 

Asahi pulled away from the kiss and smirked as their eyes met. “You’re right. These faces are good,” he huffed. 

Nishinoya, panting hard though he was, still managed to hiss out a loving “fuck you,” before moaning loudly and tossing his head back with pleasure. Carefully, Asahi pulled his fingers out of Nishinoya, placing a sweet kiss on his chin as he leaned over him. He pushed Nishinoya back a ways, climbing to his knees before him, and popped the cap open of the bottle of lube he must’ve pulled from behind Nishinoya. 

Nishinoya’s heart was racing. 

_This is it._

Mere seconds away from the moment, Nishinoya suddenly felt stupid for never trying before then. It was almost like he was having sex for the first time, it was exhilarating, and incredibly satisfying. 

After slicking his shaft, and Nishinoya’s hole to his satisfaction, Asahi tossed the bottle of lube aside, and lined himself up to Nishinoya. He leaned down over Nishinoya and took a quick kiss from him before slowly starting to push his way inside. 

And Nishinoya felt the pain he hadn’t with Asahi’s fingers. 

There was a tense stinging as the stretch of his dick pushed him way past what he’d done with his hand, and Nishinoya noted mentally that, for Asahi’s size, three fingers wasn’t enough. He wasn’t able to keep from wincing in pain. 

“Shit, Yuu, are you okay?” Asahi grunted. 

Nishinoya nodded. It did hurt, but he didn’t want to stop. He wanted all of Asahi inside of him and he wanted it now. The stretch was painful, but as Nishinoya’s entrance adjusted to the large length, the filled up feeling, was making Nishinoya feel dizzy. 

_It’s so good._

“F-fuck,” Nishinoya groaned. Asahi started to pull away, but Nishinoya wrapped his legs tightly around the other’s waist, linking his ankles behind him. He peeled his eyes open and looked up at Asahi. “I love it.” 

Asahi’s face developed an overlay similar to the way his face looks when he settled into animal instincts during a volleyball game. He leaned down and took a fairly rough bite of Nishinoya’s neck as he pushed in further, burying himself totally. Nestled inside, he rocked his hips gently, before pulling out and then pushing in again. Nishinoya just may pass out. The length inside him was so hot, he thought he'd actually catch fire. Asahi pulled out and adjusted the angle slightly, and when he pushed back in, he hit a spot that sent a wave of pleasure ricocheting through Nishinoya’s body, stronger than anything he’d ever felt before. He let out a loud moan, and wrapped his arms around Asahi’s back. 

“There,” he whispered to Asahi. 

Asahi received the message loud and clear and began to thrust in and out faster, targeting the spot, and sending Nishinoya into a tailspin. He pulled as much as he could with his legs and arms. Tried his hardest to pull Asahi even closer than he was. 

“Fuck, Asahi. Fuck,” he cried. 

“Yuu, you feel so good. I can’t…” 

Nishinoya was right there with him. A tingling feeling started in the pit of his stomach and shockwaved out over his body.

“I’m coming, Asahi,” Nishinoya warned, barely in enough time. 

He clenched tight around Asahi as his mind went blank and he lost control of himself entirely, twitching and shaking through his orgasm. 

“Yuu.” 

A few seconds later, Nishinoya felt Asahi’s seed spilling inside him, filling him up more. He moaned loudly at the feeling of it. 

“Fuck,” Nishinoya swore again and it felt like the only word he knew. 

Panting loudly and glistening in sweat above him, Asahi smiled at Nishinoya before kissing him softly. He didn’t pull out of Nishinoya right away, and when he did, apart from being disappointed, Nishinoya could feel Asahi’s come sliding out as well, and it made him messy instantly. That aside, he still couldn’t entirely focus. He could feel the corners of his eyes wet, somewhere along the way they’d watered, and he felt clammy under the sweat. 

It was the best feeling in the world. 

Asahi kissed Nishinoya again, and that time when they parted, Nishinoya had a few choice words for the other. “You’re an ass.” 

Asahi’s eyes widened, his own long brown hair matted against his forehead. “Huh? What did I do?” 

“How dare you not tell me how good that fucking feels until now?” Nishinoya growled. 

“Sorry,” Asahi said with a smirk, kissing Nishinoya’s jaw. 

“You wanted to keep it to yourself didn’t you?” Nishinoya huffed. He ran a hand through his hair and slicked it back out of his face. 

“I swear I didn’t!” Asahi yelped. Nishinoya released his legs from around Asahi and he stood up. “I didn’t think you’d like it.” 

“Are there people who don’t like that?!” Nishinoya asked. 

Asahi laughed. “I don’t know that straight guys see the allure.” 

“Well, they’re stupid,” Nishinoya grumbled. “Don’t worry. I still love plowing your ass.” 

Asahi’s face turned bright red. “Noya!” 

“But I can’t believe that I’m just now experiencing that when we’ve been together for almost two years,” Nishinoya said. 

Asahi smiled. “I’ll run you a bath.” 

Nishinoya shook his head. “I’ll fall asleep in the bath,” he started to sit up, “a shower should be--” 

“Noya, wai--” Asahi started to warn at the same time, but it was too late. 

A significant pain shot up along Nishinoya’s spine and out across his shoulders. Trace amounts of it slid down his legs and made even his knees and ankles sore. Nishinoya dropped back to the bed, flat like a starfish.

“Why am I dying?” Nishinoya asked. 

He had faint memories of Asahi experiencing discomfort after their first time, but he felt like it couldn’t have been as bad as what he was experiencing currently. 

“That’s one of the side effects of, sex, that way,” Asahi said sadly. “That’s why you need the bath.” 

“How long does it last?” Nishinoya asked nervously. 

“Uh, it’s different for different people I think, but for me it lasted about three days,” Asahi said. 

Nishinoya’s eyes widened. “THREE DAYS?! I HAVE A GAME TOMORROW.” 

“Yes.” Asahi nodded. “We… didn’t think it through.” 

Nishinoya sighed as Asahi disappeared into the bathroom. He smiled remembering the pleasure of it. 

_Totally worth it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ukai is having a rough go of getting his team to synchronize appropriately. After being both captain and coach, the loss of Daichi and his support system Sugawara and Asahi, is really starting to take a toll on the team. Fortunately for Coach Ukai, Takeda is good for reading his mind and solving problems.


	5. Those Damn First Years

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takeda saves the day when Coach Ukai's new team starts to wear on him.

Nishinoya looked over at Coach Ukai nervously. He’d been the coach of the team for a year and a half, almost, and Nishinoya hadn’t ever seen him really blow his stack or lose his cool. He shouted plenty, but it was always plays and advice from the sidelines, never any aggression towards the players. That being said, they were nearly three months into the new team without the third years, who were able to stick around longer thanks to Nationals, and to say it wasn’t going well would be an understatement. 

The team was just disjointed. It wasn’t that Ennoshita was a bad captain, but it was clear the disparity between the reign he had over the third and second years as opposed to the new first years. He wasn’t as outwardly horrifying as Daichi had been, and unlike the four freshmen that had joined when Daichi was captain, and no one else, Ennoshita was staring down the barrel of fourteen new players, all pulled in from the glory of Nationals. Some of them were older and knew Ennoshita from school already, but eight of them were freshmen and it was difficult to captain a team that had just doubled in size. 

If Nishinoya was to guess, he’d say Yachi seemed the most equipped for the new size. She used her cute innocence to her advantage to keep the rambunctious new club members in line, and had proven herself to have a feisty undertone when she gets flustered, much more like Daichi. Still, a manager with no prior volleyball experience, can only do so much, and it seemed Ukai was starting to feel the strain of his new team. 

“Uh, okay, let’s just take a few minutes…” Ukai said and it surprised Nishinoya. He was always barking about how every minute of practice counts, but they’d taken more ‘breaks’ in the last few months, than they did the entire first year of Ukai’s run as coach. 

Ennoshita walked over to where Nishinoya and Tanaka were standing, and dropped his head to Tanaka’s shoulder. 

“I told you guys I was gonna be bad at this,” Ennoshita muffled into Tanaka’s shoulder. “I’m not a captain.” 

“That’s ridiculous,” Tanaka consoled, rubbing Ennoshita’s back gently. 

“Yeah. We picked you because we have faith in you to do it. Stuff like this has a learning curve. You have to be a little more Daichi and a little less Asahi,” Nishinoya said. 

Ennoshita sighed, standing up straight and looked at them sadly. “Learning curves takes a few days, not a few months.” 

“No. With these guys, it’s gonna take a while. They’re worse than us, and I didn’t think anyone was worse than us,” Tanaka said. 

“STOP THAT!” 

“OW! DON’T HIT ME KAGEYAMA!” 

“YOU’RE THE ONE WHO KEEPS JUMPING UP SO SLOPPY! YOU’RE THE OLDER ONE NOW, ACT LIKE IT!” 

“YOU’RE MEAN!” 

They watched Hinata and Kageyama arguing and Tanaka shook his head. “Sorry, them. I didn’t think anyone was worse than them.” 

“Maybe you just need to get to know the new guys better,” Nishinoya offered. 

“Get to know them? There’s fourteen of them!” Ennoshita huffed. “Besides, they’re not really the problem. It feels like it’s our existing team members that need the help. No offense, Noya, but you’re just coming out of that weird thing where you sucked all of a sudden. Tanaka has let the whole ‘ace’ thing, go straight to his head. Kageyama and Hinata are… Kageyama and Hinata, and the rest don’t appear to be growing much at all. It’s like our inspiration is gone.” 

Nishinoya crossed his arms as he pondered that fact. It did seem like the wind and been knocked from their sails, and as a team that went so far the previous year, Ennoshita was right, they couldn’t blame it on the new guys. 

“Don’t worry, Ukai,” Takeda’s voice, which had been quietly consoling Ukai, got louder suddenly. “I called in a favor, and it just arrived.” 

Everyone stopped and turned to look at him. “What favor, Take?” 

“Well, it seems we maybe didn’t allow ourselves appropriate transition time from one team to the next and it left us feeling a little, unmotivated. I think it would do us some good to bring back a few old friends for the day, to help us out,” Takeda explained. 

_Old friends?_

“Hey there, Coach Ukai,” a voice sang in. 

Coach Ukai turned around and stepped aside and there, standing in the doorway to the gym, were Daichi, Sugawara and Asahi, dressed for practice, and ready to go. 

“Oh! You three!” Ukai yelped, then looking at Takeda. “I have no words.” 

Takeda rubbed the back of his head coyly. “It’s okay. I can’t do much as just a faculty advisor, so I do what I can.” 

“So, get it together,” one of the new first years grumbled at the slender wing spiker who’d just joined the team. Nishinoya looked over.

“I-it’s Asahi Azumane… He’s right there,” So whispered. _What?_

Nishinoya looked at Tanaka to see if he’d heard the comment, but he wasn’t paying any attention. 

_Did he just?_

“Holy crap, there are a lot of new players!” Sugawara squeaked. 

“How many are there?” Asahi asked. 

“Fourteen,” Takeda replied. 

“Geez,” Daichi said. “Well, no matter. We’ll just have to whip all fourteen guys, plus our leftover nine, into shape.” At this, Daichi made direct eye-contact with Ennoshita. “I could have sworn I left a captain in charge.” 

“Hey,” Tanaka started, but Ennoshita put a hand on his shoulder. 

“You’re right, I haven’t stepped up. Sorry, Daichi,” Ennoshita said. 

“That’s crazy! Ennoshita’s done the best he can with the circumstances,” Nishinoya jumped to his aid. 

“I have to agree.” Everyone was shocked when Tsukishima butted in. “I think Ennoshita’s been a great captain, it’s our team that can’t get it together.” 

“Th-thanks, Tsukishima,” Ennoshita said. 

Sugawara stepped into the gym with a motherly smile on his face. “Okay, okay. That’s why were here. To help. Right, Asahi?” 

But Nishinoya had stolen Asahi’s attention, as the two chuckled across the room at one another. Daichi lifted a hand, always one to get annoyed when Asahi sliced his, already timid personality, in half when dealing with the libero, but before he could strike, Sugawara elbowed him in the rib cage. 

“Now is not the time, Asahi,” he hissed.

“Right,” Asahi groaned. “Sorry.” 

“Um,” Yachi said as she stepped forward. “I think it might be a good idea to split up into groups. Divide and conquer.” 

Takeda nodded. “Yes. I think that’s a splendid idea. We only have today with our helpers after all.” 

“Okay. Um, our setters are actually pretty sound, so Sugawara, maybe you could work with the middle blockers on strategy, and Tsukishima can help you out. Asahi, we have powerful spikers, but they’re sloppy, so you can help them. Kinoshita and Narita can toss for you and Nishinoya can receive. At the end, Daichi can help everyone with receives?”

“I like that, this way I can talk with Ennoshita now,” Daichi growled. 

“He’s gonna yell at me isn’t he?” Ennoshita whined. 

“Stay strong,” Tanaka said, rubbing Ennoshita’s head, “and learn lots.” 

“It goes without saying, but our former players are well-regarded and good at the game. So please be respectful and listen to what they have to say,” Takeda said. 

The team resounded affirmations and then began splitting up into groups. Nishinoya’s heart jumped a little as Asahi made his way over and he couldn’t help but smile. 

_It’s nice to be on the same court again._

“Hi,” Asahi greeted warmly when he was close enough. 

“Hi,” Nishinoya responded. 

“Hi!” Tanaka jumped in, striking a dramatic pose, and Nishinoya threw an annoyed look at him. 

“Hi, New Ace,” Asahi said. “I bet you’re way better at it than me.” 

Tanaka shook his head. “Not really. You’re way stronger than me, plus you have that weird thing were you go into a zone, and I can’t do that, at least not yet.” 

“What are you talking about?” Asahi asked. 

Nishinoya scoffed. “During games, after a few plays, you turn into a completely different person. You get all serious and strong and stuff. It’s cool.” 

“I didn’t know that. I don’t feel any different,” Asahi said. 

“You wouldn’t have made it this far, as an ace, with your personality, without it,” Nishinoya said. 

“My personality is fine!” Asahi groaned. 

“It is!” Nishinoya said back. “It’s just not the most ‘ace-ly.’ You make up for it though with the way you play.” 

“Um… A-A-Azumane…” 

Nishinoya, Tanaka and Asahi turned and the team’s spikers were all gathered around, plus Narita and Kinoshita. The one who’d addressed Asahi, So, was standing at the front of the line. His pale cheeks were an incredibly dark shade of red, and he was twiddling his thumbs nervously. 

“Um. I, um, um. I picked Karasuno because, um, I wanted to be a strong ace like you. S-so, pl-please teach me everything you c-can,” he stuttered. 

“All these incredible players, and Asahi is the one with the fan. I’m shocked,” Narita joked. 

“I, um, okay,” Asahi replied, his own cheeks pinking. 

Nishinoya’s eyes narrowed. _Six months, I’ve been on a team with this guy, and he’s never mentioned Asahi before._

“Noya?” Tanaka asked quietly. Nishinoya turned and looked up at him. “You’re glaring.” 

“Sorry,” Nishinoya said. 

“Uh, let’s just get started. I want to see how you all spike, so, Kinoshita, can you set? Narita can toss to you and Noya, you can receive them and return them to Narita. Tanaka, you go first so they can see how it’s done,” Asahi instructed lightly. 

“Yes!” Everyone agreed. The spikers all lined up on one side of the court, closer to the stage, and Kinoshita got in setting position. 

“Oh, um. Hey, Suga!” Asahi called over. “Lend me Yamaguchi and Kageyama!” 

“Fine!” Sugawara called back and Yamaguchi and Kageyama came shuffling over. 

“Can you guys block for us?” Asahi asked. 

“Okay,” Yamaguchi said. 

“Yes sir,” Kageyama said. 

“Okay. Tanaka, show em how it’s done,” Asahi said. 

Narita threw the ball to Kinoshita and he set the ball near the net and Tanaka jumped up and swung. Yamaguchi and Kageyama jumped straight up and at the last moment, Tanaka altered the course of the ball, sending it ricocheting off Kageyama’s hand and bouncing out through the small space along the edge that was left open by Kageyama on his side. 

“Nice shot, Ryu!” Nishinoya celebrated. 

“It was cool, but it was also very difficult to execute. Maybe you should show them something a little more fundamental, Azumane-Senpai,” Kageyama suggested. 

“YES!” Nishinoya shouted and everyone, including the former and current captains and the middle blockers all turned to look at him. Asahi smiled and Nishinoya rolled his eyes. “Or don’t. I don’t care. I don’t think you’re all that good.” 

“Nice save, Noya,” Tanaka mocked. 

“Okay,” Asahi said. 

He ducked under the net and crossed to the other side and lined up. Narita took a ball and tossed it to Kinoshita and he tossed it, high and just in front of the net, and Asahi went up. Yamaguchi and Kageyama delayed their block a little bit, but even when they did jump up, it didn’t make much of a difference. Asahi smashed the ball and it broke through the block, knocking Yamaguchi out of alignment. Nishinoya jumped out to receive the ball, but it bounced off his forearms and flew out of bounds. 

He stood up excitedly. “AH! Dammit, I haven’t received any for so long!” 

“A-amazing,” So murmured behind Asahi and his expression hit Nishinoya like a freight train. The way he blushed and fiddled, the lust-filled gaze. _Who the hell do you think you’re looking at like that?_

Nishinoya was distracted and agitated as the new players practiced their spikes with Asahi coaching them. On So’s fourth or fifth spike, the normally successful attacks were magically getting weaker and Nishinoya was considering calling him on it when Tanaka walked over to him. 

“Okay, you’ve been all glare-y and evil looking for a while, what’s the problem?” he asked. 

“That So kid has a crush I think,” Nishinoya said, “and apparently he doesn’t realize that I’ll kill him.” 

Tanaka chuckled. “Okay, okay. Calm down. Practice is almost over so just hang in there. It’s not all that surprising. Asahi is good looking.” 

Nishinoya shifted his glare to Tanaka. “What was that?”

“I… What? That was an objective opinion. I love Ennoshita. Please don’t hit me,” Tanaka yelped. 

“Okay! Let’s put these new techniques to work in a practice game. We won’t rotate, so everyone find a spot where you can hone your new skills effectively. Kageyama you can set for one and Kion for the other, and Hinata, I don’t care what team you’re on, you need to be in the back row practicing receives,” Ukai said. 

The gym divided themselves up into teams, with both teams having a small box of reserve players, and Sugawara and Yachi kept score while Daichi and Asahi each supported a different team. To Nishinoya’s extreme agitation, Asahi ended up choosing the side with So on it to cheer for, as it ended up having more of the new spikers, while Daichi chose Nishinoya’s team, because Ennoshita was also on it. Thankfully, Nishinoya also ended up with Tanaka, but he had a feeling things weren’t going to go well. 

It was a fairly typical game considering the circumstances. They didn’t rotate servers unless someone expressly asked to, so that the different players could hone their specific skills in their area of expertise. After a few plays each, Ukai would swap out blockers and spikers for the ones in the box so everyone would get a chance. Daichi, Asahi and Sugawara each took some time correcting errors and referencing work they’d done in their groups and soon everyone was playing better. 

Ukai let out a deep sigh of relief from the referee’s podium and looked down at Takeda and smiled. Takeda smiled back and looked away, with his cheeks hueing significantly.

So switched into the rotation and Nishinoya got a rush of anger. He needed to receive So’s spike, to keep from letting his imaginations about who Asahi’s was most impressed by run wild. 

“Hinata, nice serve!” Nishinoya yelled. 

Hinata served the ball, still fairly slow, but at least with a directed course and action. It sailed across the net and started to fall down to the court. One of the new second years received the ball, earning him a light affirmation from Ukai, and he returned the ball to where Kion, their 2-string setter, was waiting. 

“Kion!” So shouted. 

Kion set the ball behind him. “So!” 

So jumped up, high because his body was thin and he was only average height. He spiked the ball, intentionally directing it past the block with good ball control. 

“Nice course!” Asahi shouted. 

Nishinoya peeled out and threw his arms out, set to receive the ball, but he misjudged the power of the ball, and it flew off to the side. 

So landed and pumped his arms excitedly. “Yes!” 

“Nice kill!” Asahi cheered. “That’s the best one of you so far!” 

So looked over with his cheeks red. “Thank you, Azumane-Senpai!” 

Asahi waved a hand. “Just call me, ‘Asahi.’ I don’t like formalities.” 

So’s entire face and the tips of his ears darkened then. “Okay!” 

_That’s it._ “Tanaka,” Nishinoya growled at his best friend. 

“Yeah?” Tanaka said. 

Nishinoya stood up, torrid gaze set for So. “I’ll make sure you get the ball, so put that first-year in his place.” 

A nasty smile found Tanaka’s face. “Yes sir.”

“Hinata nice serve,” a teammate yelled as the ginger served the ball again. 

A similar receive-return happened on the opposite end of the court and in no time at all, So was going up for another spike. Nishinoya cut over, having realized on the last play that he’ll spike straight if the block allows it, and having Tanaka at the helm of the block helped when he directed the course towards Nishinoya. So spiked the ball and Nishinoya got a clean receive out, sending the ball back to Kageyama. 

“Kill it, Ryu!” Nishinoya barked. 

“Tanaka-Senpai,” Kageyama huffed, setting the ball over to the ace. 

Tanaka jumped up, and on the other side, So jumped up to block. Tanaka slammed it down hard, almost straight down, and had So not moved his head, it would have smashed against his face. Instead the ball rammed into So’s shoulder, sending him crashing to the ground, groaning in pain. Nishinoya landed, wincing lightly. _Damn. At least I know Tanaka’s willing to go to bat for me._

“Tanaka!” Takeda squealed. 

Nishinoya’s blood boiled as Asahi rushed onto the court to help So stand and see if he was okay. Ennoshita stormed over to Tanaka and smacked him across the back of his head. 

“Ow!” Tanaka yelped. 

“What the fuck did you do that for? You could have seriously hurt him!” Ennoshita shouted. 

Tanaka stood up, looking at Ennoshita glaring back at him and all eyes were on them. “Um.” 

“Well?” Ennoshita pressed. 

“Uh, I, um--” 

“Ryuunosuke!” 

“Nishinoya told me to!” Tanaka blurted out, then turning to look at Nishinoya sadly. “Sorry. He scares me.” 

“Noya….” Nishinoya turned and Asahi was standing next to So with a look of disappointment that threatened to melt his skin off. 

Nishinoya looked around at his team, manager and coaches staring at him in confusion and he couldn’t take it anymore. He stormed past everyone, and right out of the gym. He heard Ennoshita call after him, but he didn’t respond. He walked out into the early evening air and walked a ways away from the gym door. He took a deep breath in and then out. 

_That was childish. I know that._

A half-second later, Asahi was next to him. 

“Yuu…” Asahi hummed. 

“I know,” Nishinoya said. “I’m sorry.” 

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to,” Asahi reprimanded. “What happened?”

Nishinoya looked away. “Nothing, it’s stupid.” 

“Doesn’t matter. Tell me anyway,” Asahi said softer. 

Nishinoya kicked at the dirt of the ground below. “I… I don’t know. I guess I got… jealous.” 

“Jealous?” Asahi asked. “Of what?” 

Nishinoya whipped his head around, giving Asahi a look of indignance. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” Asahi whined. “I don’t know.” 

“That dumbass freshman in there clearly likes you!” Nishinoya said. “He made that weird confession to you, he got all flustered around you and he looked at you in a way that only I should be able to look at you!” Asahi chuckled. “Don’t laugh at me.” 

“I’m sorry, I just… You can’t control the way people look at me,” Asahi said, with a hint of humor still hanging on his voice. “All that matters is that I don’t care about any of it. It’s been two years. Do you seriously not know yet that I only want you?”

Nishinoya’s heart raced. “I know…” 

Asahi stepped behind Nishinoya and rested his head on top of Nishinoya’s and wrapped his arms around him. Nishinoya hooked his arms around Asahi’s and leaned back against the other. _It’s no wonder I would get jealous as much as I love you._

“You need to apologize to So,” Asahi grumbled down to him. 

Nishinoya groaned. “Fine.” 

“And Tanaka,” Asahi said. 

“I really didn’t expect him to hit him that hard,” Nishinoya said. “I didn’t realize he had that much raw power.” 

“Well, next time you order out a hit on someone you’ll consider the weapon more carefully,” Asahi responded. 

Nishinoya laughed and Asahi joined in. “It kind of was like I called out a hit.” 

“If I’m in love with a secret gangster, please let me know now,” Asahi said. 

“Would you leave me if I was a gangster?” Nishinoya mumbled back. 

Asahi leaned further down and kissed Nishinoya on his cheek. “I wouldn’t leave you ever.” 

Nishinoya smiled, heart pounding. “Good.” He turned his head to take a kiss from Asahi. “I love you.” 

Asahi hugged Nishinoya tightly. “I love you too.”

***

Arrogant little… Nishinoya shook his head. “Well good then.” He turned to walk away, but So reached out and took him by the shoulder. Nishinoya looked back at him. “What?”

“You’re good friends with Asahi, right?” 

“Oh, no,” Tanaka whispered behind Nishinoya. 

“Yeah, we’re close,” Nishinoya replied sarcastically, eyes narrowing into another evil glare. 

“Is it true he’s going to start part-time here?” So looked off longingly. “It’ll be nice having him around. I know I’m a few years younger, but maybe he’d--” 

Nishinoya reached forward and took So by the collar of his T-shirt, pulling him down so they were face to face. “I will claw your face off,” he growled. 

“N-Noya,” Tanaka squeaked, pulling on his arm to drag him away. 

“Nishinoya, let him go!” Nishinoya looked over and Yachi’s face was red with anger. Nishinoya dropped his shirt, forcing him away as he did it. 

“Jeez, Noya. You’re badass,” Tanaka laughed as he led him away. 

“Let’s go. I have to call Asahi and tell him he can’t work here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for this one! I'm glad you guys enjoyed it! AsaNoya is my OTP, but I can admit here and now *breathes in* I've had so many requests for a fic where they aren't together that I feel obligated to do one *breathes out and also cries.* I don't know if it will be my next one or if my AU will go up next, but once the KuroKen I have going now finishes one of them will begin. They're both longer fics. Which would you prefer? Let me know in the comments! 
> 
> Other than all that, I love you guys to death! Thank you for your endless support! Follow me on Tumblr @thejazthegr8 or if you have specific requests you can e-mail me at thejazthegr8@gmail.com 
> 
> Bye now! ^____^


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